Hikari no Kanata
by ANBU Inu
Summary: Sasuke has returned, but not the way everyone expected, to take revenge. When Sakura manages to dispels his Tsukiyomi, she is thrown back in time through his memories, back to their genin days. ItaSakuSasu TT fic
1. Breaking Through

Hikari No Kanata

Hikari No Kanata

oOo

Sasuke viewed his surroundings, there were fighting ninjas as far as the eye could see. But most were his own. He watched the Konoha shinobi fall one by one. Smirking as his hometown was smashed to the ground. The Hokage monument was blown to bits by many exploding tags and crushed many shinobi beneath it. He watched the massacre until he heard a loud boom behind him.

"Get her!" a voice yelled, pointing at the oncoming girl. She smoothly dodged around her attackers, landing occasional punches that sent them flying with many broken bones. He watched the kunoichi, then he noticed something. 'Pink…' his eyes widened with realization, the kunoichi that was easily taking care of his best shinobi was none other than the girl he left on a bench eight years ago.

"Sakura…" he mouthed. He watched her now with more intensity. Her body had developed nicely as she had aged, and she was even curvier than the last time he had seen her. But her expression had aged as well, it was filled with grief, sorrow, pain, and as she glanced at him, hatred. She pushed ahead of her attackers and rushed at him, her long pink hair flying behind her.

"Sasuke!!" she yelled as she jumped at him, her hand augmented in chakra. He barely avoided her attack. Her fist made a crater all around them as the ground gave in. She looked up and glared and attacked again as he activated his Sharingan. "You bastard!" He easily dodged her moves now, sensing where she was going before she even did it. She growled in anger then did something unexpected though not totally shocking. She made a couple of handsigns and without uttering any words made a water dragon. She circled it around her twice then sent it at Sasuke. It performed an intricate pattern as it circled around him, but it didn't harm him, only get him wet. Then it flew back towards the pink-haired kunoichi. She then made a couple more handsigns. "Chidori." she uttered, his Sharingan catching the quiet words.

_She can use two elements…_ he inwardly mused. Then he realized her plan. He quickly jumped as she stuck her hand in the water, the lighting blazing through it all, destroying her dragon.

"Che." she growled, glaring at Sasuke with emerald eyes.

"SAKURA!!" she froze, and looked out at the carnage. She gave Sasuke one last glare, then jumped off his mount, running for the injured shinobi.

"You're not running away, especially since you began this…" Sasuke muttered to himself. He quickly went after the pink-haired girl. She looked over her shoulder as she ran and tittered to herself. She began move even faster now, Sasuke matching her speed and more until he was next to her. He aimed at her neck to knock her out, but she maneuvered her body out of the way. He tried to attack again, but she once more maneuvered out of the way, moving without really having to think. She then completed a couple handsigns.

"Earth Prison."

Sasuke's eyes widened as the Earth around him swelled and surrounded him. He easily used Chidori to break out, but by then she was gone.

"Kuso!" he hit the wall, "What the hell is she?"

-

"Sakura! Help!" Sakura looked up at the person yelling, then quickly finished up and moved to her.

_Kuso, I'm starting to get low on chakra…_ she noticed as she began to work on a brown-haired kunoichi.

"Sakura…" she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"What!?" she asked, turning her head to face the speaker. She instantly sobered. It was Sai with a solemn expression on his face.

"Tsunade is dead." he noted. "Along with Kakashi, Tenten, Chouji, and Ino." He watched in silence as she tried to mask her tears.

"Damn those Akatsuki bastards to hell." she muttered. Tears beginning to roll down her cheeks. She then regained control over her emotions. "Go fight, Sai."

"Hai." he disappeared, leaving his only female teammate to her work. She looked out upon her surroundings as she worked and watched as the Hokage tower crashed to the ground.

"Konoha has fallen." she noted dejectedly. She looked down at her patient, giving up on the lifeless corpse. "Maybe I should just ru—" she was interrupted when she blocked an oncoming kunai with one of her own. "Sasuke." she spat.

"Of course _you'd_ run, Sakura." the amount of words he spoke surprised her alone. He caught the several shuriken she threw at him.

"Bastard, you killed Naruto, not to mention the hundreds of shinobi that are dying or dead already!" she screamed at him.

"There is a reason." he muttered solemnly, barely loud enough for the pink-haired kunoichi to hear.

"What! Revenge?!" she screamed, running at him. She began throwing punches towards her childhood crush. He activated his Sharingan and dodged each one easily until he caught one and redirected her, sending her into a wall.

"Yes." she then watched as the Sharingan in his eyes morphed. "Mangekyou Sharingan." he muttered. "Tsukiyomi." The world was suddenly engulfed in black, only her and Sasuke still in Color. Then it morphed, they were in the Uchiha district. She only knew where they were because she had faithfully gone and cleaned his old home once a week, aside from the room his parents were murdered in. She was tied up in chakra strings.

"So this is the famed Tsukiyomi…" she looked around herself, then she regarded Sasuke. "What would you think if I told you I know a way to break out of this?"

"Impossible." he replied. She smiled angelically.

"Inner Sakura!" Sakura called out the name and Sasuke watched as a black and white version of the pink-haired kunoichi emerged from her shadow.

"OMG! It's Sasuke, wow he is so hot and like…" Inner Sakura began to fangirl over the man in front of her. ((And no, this isn't meant to be a crack story))

"IS((I'll be using that instead of Inner Sakura from now on))." Sakura yelled, a vein pulsing on her forehead. "He's trying to fucking kill us."

"Oh, right." she quickly cut through the chakra strings binding her outer using a wind technique. Sakura looked at herself after she had stood up.

"Actually, I didn't think that would work… That's surprising." she looked to Sasuke with wide eyes. "Maybe having a split-personality helps every once in a while…"

"A what?" he looked at her speculatively.

"So now Sasuke, should we see if I can dispel this?" she asked, a sickly sweet smile on her face as she ignored him. He didn't respond. She shrugged her shoulders at her childhood crush and closed her eyes, cutting off her chakra. Her eyes widened as the world around them shook, then a crack ran around the two last original members of team 7. The world around them collapsed. Sasuke immediately dispelled the jutsu, but Sakura was stuck, leaving the only female member alone in the breaking world. Sakura held back a scream as she began to fall. She watched as the world around her blurred in colors. She noticed something as the memories slowed down. 'These are Sasuke's memories…' she noticed as she watched herself run at him, 'That was today…' Then the memories sped up again. It was all blurry, then it slowed again, she heard someone talking, she watched as Uchiha Madara revealed himself to Sasuke, and explained to him Itachi's reasons for killing his family. Tears nearly pierced her eyes, but then the memories ran fast forward again, but it wasn't very long, she watched as Itachi died, then the memories ran again, this time they didn't stop and before she knew it she blacked out.

-

Ooohhh! Cliffy! (lol) Anyways, I didn't go into the canon part of this while she was watching his memories, mostly because not everyone has seen the manga up to chapter 417, if you do want to catch up go to onemanga . c o m. And look for Naruto there. It's really good, though it might take a while to find where you are at. Anyways, for all you canon readers, read on. And just so you know, this is a time-travel fic. Originally I was just going to change my mind and make it a crack fic, but then I found my inspiration. And don't ask me how she watches Sasuke's memories in the right direction even though they are going back in time. I can't answer that. Just a little discrepancy. Oh well… Anyways, see you next chapter! Ja ne!

Inu


	2. Fresh Start

Hikari No Kanata

Chapter 1

Sakura's POV

I slowly returned to consciousness, the first thing I thought in all the white was one thing. 'Am I dead?' I groaned and turned over, 'No…' I decided. 'It's too uncomfortable.' I sat up and stretched, yawning. But for some reason my hand ran into the wall. 'Maybe that was all a really horrible dream, maybe…' First I noticed my wall, as soon as I had moved into my new apartment I had moved my bed into the center of my room. Then I snapped my eyes open. These weren't my walls either, they were the wrong color. Then I looked at my hands, they were smooth, not hard and callused from training. I began feeling myself. The straw that broke camels back was my hair. It was so long. I screamed.

"Sakura! Are you okay?" my mother came running into the room. Tears pierced my eyes.

"Mom!" I jumped into her arms. This was getting kind of creepy now. My mother had died when I was sixteen from cancer. She was the first, and last patient I'd lost. Then I noticed my height. I ran from her and looked at myself in the mirror and screamed again.

"What's with you this morning?" my mother asked, rubbing her temples.

"Mom, what's the date?" I asked, staring at her with wide eyes.

"The ninth." she replied promptly.

"No, mom, what year?"

"Well its 20XX." she replied, now giving me a funny look. I quickly proceeded to push her out of my room. I moved to my mirror next. I couldn't believe it. Here I was in my twelve-year-old body, again.

'**Don't forget you have to go through your period again.'** IS noted.

'Well aren't you just a little ray of sunshine.'

'**Really? I knew I could win the most enthusiastic inner contest and…'** she began rambling on and on.

'Sarcasm.'

'**Ouch, burn!!' **IS noted.

'**Bye!'** I noted as well, shutting her out. I glanced over at my calendar. It was the day that we were to be separated into our teams. I chuckled at perhaps a dark thought to others. It was also the day Naruto and Sasuke would K-I-S-S. I made a mental note to sit in that boy's spot. I glanced around my room, my eyes landing on my 'fighting spirit' dress.

I laughed, it was so nostalgic, I fingered the 'fighting spirit' Chinese-looking dress I had ((See episode 3 of the anime for reference of how it looks)), I slid it on, admiring how I looked in it. It was a little big so I slid it back off and sighed as I looked at four copies of my trademark outfit back then.

'**That's quite a choice.' **IS noted.

I rolled my eyes and grabbed two tanktops. One was black and the other white, I put on the black one, then the white. Then I began to look for pants. I just chose some black shorts that were about two inches shy of my knee. Then I grabbed out some black shinobi sandals. Then I grabbed the necklace my dad had given my eighth birthday. It had a white circle on it, the symbol of my family. It also had a metal feather and a red bead. I placed it on then walked over to my vanity.

I applied some water-proof mascara onto my eyelashes, then tugged a brush through my hair. It's length once again surprising me. I pulled it all up high on my head and put it in a high ponytail. Then I placed my shinobi headband around my waist, it was something I had started doing at about eighteen. I checked my reflection, deemed it worthy for the day and left.

-

The walk to the academy was long and winding, just as I remembered. No one really mentioned anything about my style change. Except for Ino of course.

"What's up with that outfit?" Ino asked me, looking me up and down.

"I just decided to get serious about becoming a shinobi." I replied smoothly. After being Kakashi's student for eight plus years had to rub off on me eventually. She was naturally dumbfounded and swiftly walked away from me. I knew why, and I didn't care. As I walked into the room I found that I was too late. Naruto and Sasuke's lips were touching. I couldn't help it, I laughed and almost all heads turned to me at once. "What?" asked eying a few people. They quickly turned away.

"S-Sakura-c-chan!" Naruto began making wide swooping motions with his arms, a bad habit that had remained until… I ignored that thought and let him continue. "T-this isn't what you think it is, you see teme was all 'Hn' and I was like what's so great about him and-and…"

"That's enough Naruto…kun?" it felt strange using an honorific. I hadn't called him anything but Naruto for such a long time. Sasuke on the other hand simply stared at me.

"What's wrong with you forehead?" Ino demanded as she marched straight up to my face. (After she had already massacred Naruto's face of course.) "First the clothes, then, you didn't care who sat next to Sasuke-kun and walked slowly, and you laughed at Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun!" she yelled in my face.

"Maybe I just…" I couldn't quite think of an excuse for the her third point, so I ignored her and walked up to Hinata and plopped next to her. She squeaked and glanced at me shyly as she muttered a quick "Ohayo, Sakura-san…"

"Ohayo, Hinata-chan." I replied warmly. Over the years Hinata had become my closest friend. She looked bewildered by the sudden warmth, but it was too late to do anything because Iruka walked in. He began his whole shpeal, then started listing the teams. I didn't really respond to it, Naruto did his classic response, and Sasuke… Well, Sasuke'd. Then all too soon, class was over. I knew that Kakashi wouldn't be there for a while. So this time I followed my instincts and helped Naruto with his prank. Sasuke naturally stared at us incredulously.

"So if you connect it with these chakra strings you can pull them all the same time and hit him smack in the face!" I glossed over the details, explaining them to Naruto.

"Oh! I see!" he hit his hand with his fist. I knew he really didn't, but ignored the fact anyways. It was another hour until Kakashi came, the eraser hit his head. He opened his mouth (under his mask of course) to speak, but then I pulled on the chakra strings at once. Many things happened at once. First, a bucket of water was dumped on his head, then a bucket of feathers, and since I was feeling like taking it easy on him, another bucket of water. My and Naruto laughed our heads off. This time Kakashi was really fuming, not that he tried to let it show, I mean, he was trying really hard to hide it, but I could see it in his eye, in his twitching eyebrow. This only made me laugh harder.

"My first impression of you is…" he noted dully. "I really hate you."

"Like that's hard to see." I noted quietly, still chuckling.

"What was that Miss Haruno?"

"Nothing Sir!" I replied.

"Good, I'll meet you all on the roof." he poofed away. I stood up and followed his traces, the two boys dragging behind me.

- Sasuke's POV

What's up with Sakura today? She seems even stranger than usual. (Though I don't mind the not hanging all over me part.) Maybe she will actually be a good teammate. That'll be surprising. Anyways, maybe she could help me kill Itachi…

- Kakashi's POV

That Haruno girl is nothing like her Bio. And what was up with that prank. I mean I could sense the buckets, but I couldn't notice any sort of strings, maybe it was just the Uchiha, but why would he be doing something like that? It's a very high quality chakra string, I couldn't even sense it. How could a twelve-year-old produce something like that. Perplexing…

-Sakura's POV, again

Almost everything was the same. The same introductions, the same reactions, the only difference were myself and Kakashi.

"And lastly the girl." Kakashi stared at me.

"Sexist much?" I asked out loud, then I covered my mouth in shock. 'I thought I was just thinking it!' I cried loudly in my head. "Sorry didn't mean to say that…" I sweat-dropped. "Anyways, my name is Haruno Sakura, I like… peace… My dream for the future is to become a medic nin that can surpass the sannin Tsunade-sama and that I can protect my comrades, I dislike anyone who tries to hurt anyone close to me. My hobby is training and perfecting my skills." I stared Kakashi square in the eye. We held the stare for what I swear was a minute straight, and he was the first to look away. He finished his explanation, handed out our forms, and then we were dismissed.

- Kakashi

This girl's introduction has definitely surpassed my normal expectation for a girl her age.

- Sasuke

What the crap is happening to Sakura? She is so weird.

- Sakura

"So, Sakura-chan, do you want to go eat ramen?" Naruto's eyes were hopeful as all three of us walked down the stairs and through the halls of the academy. I mulled this over in my mind.

"…Why not." I replied, shrugging my shoulders. I turned to the dark boy trailing behind us. "Want to come as well Sasuke-te…kun?" I quickly corrected myself. He just stared incredulously at me.

"No."

"Your loss." I walked away without another word.

- Sasuke

Now this is really **really ****really** starting to creep me out. One, Sakura accepted Naruto's offer, two, she only invited me once to join them, and three she didn't attach to me like a scary pink haired leech. This day is just so weird.((A/N: Sasuke really likes making this numbered lists huh? (lol)))

-Next Day, Sakura

I woke up bright and early that day, okay, so not really. I woke up according to my natural clock, which, in my current state, was about at ten. I yawned, stretched, got up, performed my daily ritual. I took another glance at my closet and sighed as I placed the same outfit on as yesterday. The only difference was that today I placed on my kunai pouch on my leg, and I placed my headband around my neck. I figured I could pull it up later if I needed to. Naturally, since it was Kakashi I was dealing with her I set off at a leisurely stroll, not until eating a full, well-balanced breakfast, of course. As I walked into the field Naruto and Sasuke were both staring at me.

"You're late!" Naruto yelled at me.

"Sorry, a black cat crossed my path and I had to go around." I noticed that a voice blended with my own. I glanced at Kakashi who was looking at back at me incredulously. "Whoopsie…" I muttered. Kakashi's training hadn't just taught me about ninjutsu, it also made me imperiously late. He also taught me a few other things, but I'll save those for later.

He snapped out of his stupor and began explanation.

"I'll set this clock for noon…" he began his explanation. I zoned out, glancing at the members of my group.

**You know, Naruto's not all that bad looking, I mean he gets hotter as he grows up.**

'Why are you back again?'

**Oh you missed me that much?**

'No.'

**Ouch, burn. Anyways, this is over-all a very hot group. I mean Kakashi is mysterious-sexy, Sasuke is cool-sexy, and Naruto is active-se—**

'Please tell me you weren't about to say Naruto was sexy.'

**Well…**

'Shutting you away now.' I holed IS up in a corner of my mind. Trying to pay attention to his explanation. Then all too soon he shouted,

"GO!" I jumped as fast away as possible, grabbing Naruto by his jacket along the way.

"Sakura-ch…!" I quickly put a finger up to my lips.

"We're supposed to hide." I noted dully.

"Oh!"

"I'll be back." I took off through the trees, masking my chakra more and more as I distanced myself from Naruto. I soon found my target. "Sasuke-kun!" I muttered. I was starting to get the hang of using the suffix again.

"Leave me alone." he snorted, glaring at me.

"No, because I know the secret to beating him." He looked at me, and due to my experience with rather unemotional ninjas, I could see the curiousity in his eyes.

"Come on!"

- Kakashi

This is odd. I would have thought that atleast the blond one would have attacked me by now. The girl, Sakura, has surpassed my expectations once again. Even as a genin she has masked her chakra perfectly. Sasuke would have to be half as good, and the blond bombshell, Naruto, would have to be the… I quickly glide out of the way as a kunai flies towards me. Then I feel air rushing towards me on the other side. I quickly jump the other way. Naturally, it's Sakura, she growls as she misses and directs her fist towards the group, creating a crater around her a few feet deep and about five feet wide.

"Missed." she growled. Then she throws several kunai at me, each one has an exploding tag, I swiftly move backwards, then I feel heat behind me, the Uchiha is using a fireball jutsu, I touch the ground and jump straight upward. Then there are several Naruto's coming at me at once. There are even more on the ground. She smiles in triumph as several Naruto's hit me at once…

- Sakura

Kuso, it's just a replacement. I resort to my final move, I call a Naruto over to me and have him launch me into the air. Kakashi turns to me. I reach toward his forhead with one hand, he blocks it with both hands, I then reach around to his neck with my hands. I paralyze a nerve in the back of his neck and he falls, unconscious.

"Naruto-kun, grab the bells." I note as I begin undoing the paralyzing justu. Pretty soon, he's up again.

"We win sensei!" I smile at the older man.

"Yes…" he replies, watching me.

"Well, now I gotta go." I note, Inner Sakura laying our plan on her side.

"But, I was hoping that we could eat ramen together!"

"No thanks, Naruto-kun." I note. I briskly exit the scene. "Bye!"

-

I was standing in front of the Hokage's office, I knock on the door, and gives me permission to enter. I slowly open the door to the Hokage office, since no one was in there other than the Hokage, I proceeded to go in.

"You must be Haruno Sakura." he smiled.

"Yes, I am." I reply calmly.

"Just tell me what's on your mind."

"Well…" I closed the door behind me.

-

Lol, 'nother miny cliffy. Yeah, I know this is all jumbled, what can I say, it's my first real time-travel fic. Anyways, thank you for still reading this far. I promise it will get better, it's just right now I'm feeling lazy, and right now it's all awkward. Anyways, you're all awesome, thanks so much for reading this! You guys are my life source. (I mean 3 reviews out of 79 hits ((so far)), that's pretty good for me.) And if you guys want me to update even faster. Write one that helps me write better. I gladly accept criticism, but please don't flame me too much. (Put's on firefighter gear) But bring it on! Anyways, see ya next chapter. (Hopefully!)

-Inu


	3. Little Memories

Just so you know, there is a little make-out scene in this, if you don't want to read, then just skip the flashback. If you do, then go ahead. :D

-

It took me two hours to finish my explanation of what had happened in the next eight years. And that was the majorly summarized version. He just nodded and grunted at certain parts. The words rolled out so fast I was breathing hard at the end.

"So, what you're saying is that you managed to forcefully break out of the Uchiha's famous Tsukiyomi?"

"Yes."

"And that Sasuke Uchiha will go off to Orochimaru? And that the Sand will join up with the Sound to attack Konoha, and I will die."

"Well, it is kind of possible that we can prevent all these from happening."

"That is true." he replied, stroking his beard. "Well, Sakura-san, that is quite a handful to put on me at once, but, I believe you."

"How can you believe me that easily?"

"This old man fortunately knows a thing or two about detecting lies. Of course, you could have been brain-washed, but then you wouldn't have done quite as well in your test, because they would have made you forget all your jutsu." he smiled. "Well, Sakura-san, if you are finished you can return home."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama." I bowed quickly, and walked out.

**Phewf! That was tiring!** IS noted.

'I can't wait to go home… I probably should go shopping for clothes…'

**True, these clothes look hot on you, but you need a shinobi outfit.**

'No, I'm going there for fashion.' I noted sarcastically to my inner.

**Oh, really? If so just let me take over for a little bi—**

'No, ever heard of sarcasm.'

**Ooohhh… But still…**

'Shutting you up now.' I blocked her from my mind. I quickly ran home and asked my mom for money, which she easily handed over. Then I raced to the clothing store. By the time I got there my lungs were dying. It was only now that I noticed that my knuckles were all smashed up, I quickly healed them. I sighed as I entered the clothing store. I obviously needed some reinforced gloves until my calluses were worked in again. I browsed through the selection. A saleslady walked up to me.

"Is there something specific you would like?" she asked, her business-smile on for display.

"Well, I need some reinforced gloves, black, but that's all I know for sure."

"Let me get those for you." she walked quickly away. I looked through the selection. I grabbed some knee-length navy blue leggings, a navy blue tank-top, a black skirt that went to about mid thigh and was slitted up to about two-inchs from the waist-band. Finally I grabbed some black sandals. All the items put together with a white tank-top under the navy one was closest to the one I wore back in my old era. But since they didn't have the exact same things, I just got as close as possible. Finally I grabbed two necklaces, one with a delicate pink cherry blossom made of metal, and then one with the Konoha symbol made out of metal. Theses were the exact same as the ones I used to wore.

'I guess these were made sometime in this era.' I noted to my self. I purchased all of my wares, and hurried home.

"I'm going out to train!" I yelled to my mom as I raced down the stairs, she stopped me at the end.

"It's dinner-time." she noted, giving me a hard stare.

"Oh, OK." I proceeded to the dinner table. My two older sisters were there, joking and laughing. My oldest sister, Yumi, 26, worked at a tea-shop, while the younger of the two, Amarante, Ama for short, 21, worked for a successful business in a different village in the Fire Country, and had come back to celebrate my becoming a ninja. They both had gone to the academy, but neither of them became shinobi, choosing to pursue other passions. I was the only one out of my family that had ever graduated into a ninja.

"Saku-chii!!" Yumi ran straight to he younger sister. "Congrats on becoming a ninja!"

"Thank you." I replied sincerely. I hadn't seen any of my family since I was eighteen. AS I looked into the eyes of my mother and father, it was hard to not cry. My mother had died of cancer when I was seventeen. She was the first patient I ever lost. My father had been killed by thieves. His funeral was on my birthday.

"I can't believe you did it, Sa-chii." Ama noted, shaking her head slowly back and forth.

"Hah! You owe me twenty bucks Amarante!" Yumi jeered.

"I should have guessed." I rolled my eyes. My sisters bet against each other often. They were pretty even when it came to the amount of wins. The last time I saw them, it was Amarante:43 and Yumi:41.

"Let's get this party, started!"

-

"Sa-chii!" Amarante screeched.

"Eh??" I replied drowsily.

"Yumi, please tell me you didn't spike the juice!" she turned hastily to my other sister.

"Well…" Yumi replied sheepishly. Our parents were already in bed, fortunately, so they did not hear our exchange.

'Oh yeah, I can't take my liquor at this age…' I noted as I hiccupped.

"Doesn't it seem strangely hot in here?" I asked as I fanned myself with my hand. It was then I began stripping. My sisters were naturally aghast I started peeling off my shirts.

**I remember you did this when you were thirteen.** IS snickered.

-**Flashback**-

I was doing Tsunade-taichou's paper work, and I got this uncontrollable urge to try the open bottle of sake on the table. It was unexplainable, but, against better judgement I did it. When I came through, I had only underwear on, my bra un-hooked. And a very confused (and might I add flustered) Neji was holding me up with one hand, and holding both my hands with the other. He kept calling out my name. He was warm, so still half-drunk, I snuggled into his chest. (And he passed through several shades of red.) Of course, Tsunade walked in just as Neji passed out. (He's a lot more like Hinata than I would have guessed.) Just then, the world came into perspective.

"Having fun?" she smirked at me.

"Don't leave open sake bottles around curious pre-teens." I noted dully.

"Next time not in my office please."

"It's not like that Tsunade-taichou!" I cried. I propped up Neji on my knees, since his face was red. I began putting my clothes, but of course, he woke up just as I was beginning to put on my shirt, saw my bra again, and passed out once more. I ignored him, rolling my eyes, even if there was a slight blush on my cheeks. (I mean come on, I had probably just performed a strip show for him, or maybe more!) Once I had all my clothes back on, he woke up once more.

- Later

"So Neji-san, what exactly did I do?" I asked as we walked out of the Hokage building. His only reply was turning bright red. "Answer me or else I'll get the footage out of the security camera and spread it around." This obviously horrified him, even more-so than telling me what happened.

"Well, when I walked in to talk to the Hokage, you were standing up taking off your pants. You saw me, and as I tried to back away, you ran to me and…" he blushed red again.

"And…"

"I don't want to say…"

"Neji-san, don't make me…" I trailed off suggestively. His eyes widened, he grabbed my wrist and pulled me into an alley.

"You kissed me okay." he said quickly. "More like made-out, I-I don't know what was with me, because I, for some reason, lost my mind and kissed you back." He blushed darkly, averting his gaze.

"Tongues?" I asked, I was blushing too. He got a bit darker, and did this quick jerky thing with his head, then continued.

"And then you unhooked your bra…" he paused, still red, but somehow getting even darker.

"And, let me guess. You're mind was still lost, so you started feeling me up." I guessed. It was really odd, IS played the memory for me inside my head. I watched it from my side. Naturally, I was right, then I fainted. "Ah, I remember now." I smirked at him. "Oh, and Neji-kun?"

"What?" he asked, glancing at me, then quickly looking away.

"It was nice, and there isn't a camera in there. Even if there was, why would I spread it, seems kind of stupid to me. I wouldn't want people to see me." I smirked at his face, even though, I knew I must be blushing just as much.

"B-bu-b-but, y-y-yo-yo—" I covered his lips with a finger.

"You want to go get some ramen?" I asked. My cheeks losing a little bit of color.

**Neji is so hot!** IS cheered.

'Yeah, he'd probably make a good date, I'm really interested in him now.' I smirked even more inwardly.

"Su-sure." We both headed off.

-**End Flashback-**

I dated Neji for about seven months, we never actually did it. But we had gone horizontal a few times near the end of our relationship. He ended up with a crush on Tenten, but she had a crush on Lee. But then of course, Lee likes me, and me and Neji were only platonic. (Our relationship wasn't deep so somehow we managed to remain friends.)

'So hot…' I noted mentally.

"Umm… Sa-chii…" Amarante grabbed my hands, to stop me from doing anything else. I blacked out, and when I woke up, it was morning.

-

Wow, it's surprising I wrote that. That was a very interesting chapter. (Wow, that was awkward.) I'm sorry, but the books I've read lately tend to have this sort of stuff, so mind is kind of perverted right now.. Sorry, but I did give you warning. Would this chapter be considered a Lime/Lemon? I don't know, since I always avoid that type of FF. (Ehehe --') Anyways, I have a question, who would you want Sakura to pair with in the end. No Yuri pairings, here's a few of my favorites, but I will go with popular consensus. This poll will probably end about chapter ten. Please leave your vote in a review, or PM me it. You decide. Here's a few choices. (Anything may be possible, but no couples with anyone dead either.)

SasuSaku

SaiSaku

ItaSaku

GaaSaku

KakaSaku

etc.

Anyways, thanks for reading!

-Inu


	4. Replay

Just so you know, Sakura hasn't acknowledged the fact that she is really in the past, which is why she's taking it so well. I'll solve that problem soon, I promise! –poses Lee/Gai style-

Current votes

ItaSaku: II

SasuSaku: I

KakaSaku: I

Itachi's doing really well. Don't forget to vote for your wanted pairing!

-

"I see the target." Naruto's voice echoed in my ear drum.

"On three…" Sasuke's voice appeared as well. I sighed, not even bothering to cover it up. They ignored me and Sasuke began to count down. "One, two, Three!" All three of us jumped at the target. We missed, again. I rubbed my temples, they just wouldn't listen. I'd already explained that if you lure it with food, It won't jump and scratch you.

"Can't you atleast try my idea?" I asked them yet again. Sasuke twitched. He only did that when he was really angry or annoyed.

"Fine, do it." he glared at me.

"Then I will, Sa-su-ke-kun." I was getting annoyed with him too. I sighed and calmed myself down. After far too many missions of trying to catch the orange cat I'd learned a thing or two. When I was seventeen, Tora's owner died and I took her in. And eventually, she began to trust me. "To-ra-chan." I called in my most calming voice. I grabbed some of the catnip I kept in my bag for medical purposes, it's a mild sedative, and important tool since you shouldn't take the best stuff on missions very often. I grabbed and handful of it and placed it on the ground. Then backed away. Tora cam quickly, she was nervous, I could tell. She sniffed the catnip, then began to eat it. I slowly crept up on her, but not the way most would, in front of her, slowly and one my knees. I held my knuckles out to her so she could smell me. She backed away. I managed to touch her, and petted her down her back. She began to purr. I picked her up, continuing to pet her.

"That's how it's done." I smirked at Sasuke. He glared at me.

"Good job, Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled. Tora scratched Naruto out of reflex.

"Let's take her in." I noted, anxious to began our first real mission.

-

"Oh! My Tora-chan!" the fat owner of the orange cat hurried to her. And squeezed the life out of her. Tora, as much as she ran, had a surprising amount of tolerance. The woman quickly paid and walked away with her cat. The Hokage connected gaze with me. We both knew what would happen next. Naruto began his shpeal and before long, we were getting ready.

"Mom! I'm going on a mission, I'll be back in a while."

"Be safe honey!" she yelled back to me.

"Hai!" and with that, I set out.

-

As I walked along the familiar road leading out of Konoha I noticed the one thing I missed last time.

'They sure are stupid for leaving something so obvious…' I noted inwardly as we passed the puddle. I listened as they left its safety. I snorted mentally. 'Chuunin.' They quickly 'disposed of' Kakashi. I had made myself stay close to Naruto, so when They attacked, I could as well. They landed at Naruto.

"Two down." I watched as Sasuke began to fight them. Maybe I should have been worried, but I wasn't, since this had already happened. But when he came at me, I could have attacked, but I knew it wouldn't have done any good in the end.

"Sir, stay behind me." I commanded Tazuna in a calm voice. I watched as history replayed itself in front of me. I knew that in order for history to move the same way, I had to let Naruto stab his hand. As much as it pained me.

"Naruto! What are you doing?" I yelled. A line perfectly said by an actress.

"With this kunai, I'll protect the old man. We're continuing on this mission." Naruto proclaimed. I couldn't help but to smile fondly at my blond teammate. Kakashi noticed this and gave me a pointed stare. I stared at him as well. Then he looked away.

"Naruto, it's good that you're releasing the poison but anymore and you'll die of blood loss." Kakashi spoke.

"What seriously I…!" I quickly interrupted him by hurrying to him and grabbing his hand from Kakashi-sensei. "Kakashi-sensei, can I heal this?"

"Can you heal it?" he asked. Giving me a doubtful look.

"Yes." I replied firmly. I knew he doubted my skills, but since I had proclaimed it during our introductions, I figured it was okay.

"If you say so…" Kakashi left Naruto to me.

"Wow! Sakura-chan! You can heal my hand! That's so awesome, I mean…" Naruto began to babble on.

"Let's keep moving." I noted as I began to heal his wound. I knew it would heal quickly anyways so I just stemmed the bleeding and put the skin back together, leaving the nine-tailed fox the rest. "All done."

"Wow! That's amazing Sakura-chan!" It was already pink, like an old scar.

'If only all my patients had this sort of healing capability.' I sighed wistfully. I noticed a stare on my back as we moved along. I turned my head and caught Sasuke's eye. I gave him a strange look and he looked away.

- Sasuke POV

As if she was freaky enough before, now she's a medic nin? I mean, she made a fresh wound look old so fast. (A/N: Remember, Sasuke doesn't know about the 9-tailed fox.) Where has she been hiding the power to do that? Weird.

-

Here's another chapter. Yawn. I'm so tired. Sorry this one was so short, but it is vital to the overall story, I promise. Anyways, sorry for the uninspired chapter. I promise the next one will be longer. And will probably be a turning point. Thanks for reading this far, and don't forget to vote!

-Inu


	5. Substantial

Current Voting!

Itachi: II

Sasuke: IIII

Kakashi: I

Keep voting for you favorite pairing! And since it's the current top vote, there will be just a touch of SasuSaku in this chapter. Not much really, I promise.

(Oh, and just to let you know, if the same person votes twice, it will not count as two votes, sorry!)

-

I mentally sighed as we moved along slowly. Tazuna began his story and I put in nods and gasps into all the right places. Then pretty soon, we were on land once again. I resisted the urge to yell 'finally'. When Naruto threw the shuriken I knew we were getting close. The white rabbit, yet again something obvious that I missed as genin. I stood close to Naruto, fearing that he couldn't get down fast enough. When Kakashi yelled "Everyone get down!" I was prepared. I fell onto Naruto, just as I had in my genin days. Naruto got up, I could tell from the look in his eyes that he wanted to show Sasuke up. I grabbed his wrist as he tried to move forward.

"Wait." I noted calmly. He could tell by the tension in the air that something was amiss so he surprisingly enough listened to me. When Kakashi revealed his Sharingan I knew what would happen next. I stayed close to Tazuna now, since I knew he was the target anyways. As Kakashi and Zabuza bantered the other two joined me, and then all too soon, the fight began.

"Ninpou: Hidden Mist no jutsu." Zabuza disappeared into the mist. I stretched out my range, I could sense the slight disturbance in the mist, and knew his location. He began reciting the best places to kill someone. I knew these places all too well. Then Zabuza's ki came on us like a giant wave. I was used to this sort of pressure, but my twelve-year-old body was not. It shivered.

"Don't worry Sasuke," Kakashi noted. "I don't let my comrades die." I'm sure we were both thinking about the same person at that time. Obito.

"We'll see about that." he was between us and Tazuna.

'Dammit, I forgot about this part, you fail IS.'

**Well, I'm sorry.**

'Forget it, please just bring up the memory of the next few seconds please.'

**Sure.** she quickly brought them up. I so dearly wanted to defend Tazuna myself but I resisted the urge and let Kakashi throw me out of the way. I watched as they began to destroy each others clones. Zabuza revealed Kakashi's plan to all of us. I already knew it but acted surpised. They continued to battle and I bit my tongue to stop myself from running out there and helping Kakashi-sensei. Especially once he got caught in the water prison jutsu. I sighed, frustrated, and allowed myself to use one jutsu.

"Invisible Shadow Clone no jutsu." this was a technique I had created by combining genjutsu and ninjutsu. I created one copy of myself and sent her to the other side of the battle field. I once again listened to the hidden mist jounin speak to us.

"…A real ninja is one who has had numerous brushes with death." Zabuza noted to us. I knew this all too well. My mind flashed back to the invasion of Konoha that I had come to this era from. Fury swelled up in me. Mostly towards the dark-haired boy in front of me, but also towards the hidden mist jounin as he punched Naruto. I could fell the air start moving strangely around me. And attempted to breath calmly. But that quickly went down the drain.

'IS, please, control my anger for the both of us.' I noted sharply to my inner.

**Hai.** she did just that, and I calmed down. Then I watched Naruto start running at Zabuza. IS lost the fight with my anger, and I couldn't help myself. I could fell the red fury swirling into my eyes. I growled, then ran at Zabuza as well.

"Sakura!" Sasuke was surprised as I ran along with Naruto. The anger that was swelling in me I was beginning to lose control.

**Ehehehe…** IS chuckled.

'Don't you dare take over.'

**Why not?** Crap, this is not good, IS is starting to go into her dark form. Apparently my shadow clone was going out of control as well because I could see her footsteps as she ran at Zabuza.

- Kakashi

This is very strange. There are two Sakura's. One is a shadow clone but it's different, invisible. How did she make it, when did she make it? And why is there some sort of black chakra swirling around the both of them.

- Sakura

I have now officially lost control.

'Not good, not good, not good, not good, not good!' I lamented, watching through my eyes as my arms and legs moved against my will. Me and my shadow clone had quickly dispelled of the fake Zabuza. We both turned to the real one. I got a momentary lapse of control and used it to hole IS up, then I dispelled my shadow clone. I staggered over close to Tazuna and immediately collapsed, having lost the movement in my body.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto was freaked out now, and Sasuke's eyes simply widened. Zabuza had already made a new clone to replace the one I had destroyed.

"Get Kakashi out of there! Now!" surprisingly enough, even with my interference, Naruto had still had the same idea. He had grabbed his headband after I had dispelled Zabuza's clone. I watched as history once more played out in front of me. Naruto surprised me once again. I watched as Kakashi copied Zabuza as well. Watching as they used the same jutsu I had used on Sasuke. Fortunately by the time the water came for us, I had regained some of my movement. So I was able to hold Tazuna, attaching my own feet to the ground with chakra. I watched as Haku showed up, unable to tell sensei, or even stop him from taking Zabuza with him.

'Stupid IS.'

**What did I do?** she had come back

'Stupid convenient memory loss.'

**Huh?** I quickly shut her up once again.

'Funny how she always forgets that sort of thing, I swear she just might be faking it.' I sent waves of chakra to my muscles loosening them and getting them back to their normal level.

I perked up when Kakashi noted "There are kids younger than you, but stronger than me."

'I qualify for that…' I noted dully. You see, I was the youngest graduate at twelve, (Sasuke and Naruto both were about to turn thirteen), while I had just turned twelve, having skipped a grade, which was part of the reason I was teased as a child. But that's a different story. Once Haku was gone naturally Kakashi collapsed, having held up a good while. I managed to catch him with my super-human strength. I had seen this happen several times, having gone on more missions than I could count with the white-haired man. 'Off to Tazuna's house…' I noted dully once again.

-

"Are you okay, sensei?" Tsunami asked.

"Yeah, I just can't move for a week…" Kakashi answered.

"Kakashi-sensei, I think I can make you heal faster." I noted. I knew I could, but to keep up appearances, I acted doubtful. He turned his single eye to me.

"Oh, really?"

"Yes." I nodded firmly.

"Fine." my hands ignited green with chakra, both of my teammates turned to stare at me as I began to work on my sensei.

"So, sensei, who was that masked boy?" Naruto asked the question for me. Kakashi began to explain as I continued my work, humming to myself. Before long I had to stop, my chakra reserves weren't even half as much as mine when I was twenty, not to mention calming down IS. I had probably taken off about a day or two of recovery time. If I was at my full/original strength, I probably would have reduced his recovery time by a week.

"Phew…" I sighed. I looked at my sensei, he was asleep. But he should be waking up any minute now to notice that Haku didn't burn Zabuza's body. I delivered my lines, it was like a play I had already participated in. The feeling was disorienting. Like Déjà vu, except I knew what was happening had in fact already happened.

"…You guys are growing rapidly, especially Naruto." Kakashi noted. I silently agreed with the silver-haired man. Naruto had more potential than anyone in the room, except perhaps Sasuke, but who knew? I hadn't fought Sasuke long enough to see everything he could do.

-

So we went to the woods. Kakashi talked, then I explained chakra. Then Kakashi finished his explanation and said that we needed to climb the trees. I watched as he climbed the tree, the boys were surprised, but this was nothing.

**Yeah! Especially since you can walk on air! **IS cheered.

'Like I can show them that.' I noted dully in reply.

I laid out my lines, Kakashi explained some more. Soon enough he was finished. I stared at my tree. The other two began attempting at their tree.

'I was able to do this on my first try.' I smirked to myself as I walked to the tree. I could feel Kakashi's eye on me. Simply because the other two ran, and I didn't. I neared my tree and began to walk up. The other two were watching me now. What they didn't know was that I was practicing walking on air, to see if I could do it still. I was walking about a centimeter off the wood. I moved upside down and sat down, upside down of course.

"Easy enough." I noted, sticking out my tongue and chuckling. Similar to how I had the first time around.

- Kakashi

'So Sakura is the best in chakra control…' I mused to myself. 'Though the other two have much greater chakra reserves, but what was that, when she destroyed the Zabuza clone, she had created a shadow clone, not to mention invisible, and it looked like she was different somehow, her chakra was strange… I must investigate her background.'

- Sakura

Kakashi began to speak, the same words as before. But the difference this time was that instead of thinking Sasuke would get mad at me, I smirked at him. Scoffed, if you will. He glared sharply at me, I just sent a glare back at him.

- Sasuke

What is up with Sakura, first, (A/n: Lol, another list. My Sasuke sure thinks strangely. Eheh…) there was that creepy time, then she collapsed, and she is really good at controlling her chakra. And just now she just smirked at me. What happened to the fangirlly Sakura? I mean I hated her before but now she's just… Strange… Back to tree…

- Sakura

Whew, I'm getting kind of tired. This entire day has taken a lot out of me. Atleast now it was understandable, and besides, I can push myself a lot harder now than my genin days. But I knew I needed to give Naruto his hint so I waited, resting against a tree.

Soon enough, he gave up and came to me for help. "Um-umm… Could you give me some tips?" he asked.

"Of course, Naruto." I smiled warmly at him, which caused him to blush. I knew he didn't knw it yet, but the love he had for me was only like love for a sister. And with that I began to explain.

- Sasuke

Maybe I should go ask Sakura for help too… Wait, did I just think that? No way am I going to ask that weak pink-haired girl about... Well I guess she's not weak, she took out Zabuza's clone, and she did do this first, and she can use medical ninjutsu, and… What am I thinking?! Now Sakura's making me think weird thoughts, how could I do that? Get it together, Sasuke.

- Sakura

I yawned as I watched over Tazuna.

"You look pretty bored by yourself." he noted as he worked. "Where's that blond kid and that other one?"

"They're training." I replied, yawning again.

"And you don't have to?" Tazuna asked.

"Nope, I already completed the training." I replied, yawning again.

"Is that so…" he looked at me doubtfully.

"You want me to try it on you?" I asked, glaring at him.

"No…" he busied himself with work, and I began to rest, letting IS watch our surroundings. Soon enough it was time to go. I had left my pouch at home, so nobody touched me this time. But I had kept some candy in my kunai holder to give out. Tazuna explained everything that was going on to me. I answered and asked questions. And pretty soon, we were back at his house.

-

"If you're going to throw up stop eating so much!" I yelled, hitting my teammates on the head. I had seen the poverty out there and there was no point in them gorging just to throw up. I looked at the same picture, said the same lines, and Inari left. Tazuna began to explain to us about Inari's father, the hero of the city.

-

When I woke up it was all the same, except I changed my lines a little bit.

"He's probably asleep and vulnerable, he might be killed." I noted, stretching. Sasuke delivered his lines, and I settled down to breakfast.

"Sakura-chan, why do you always wear your pajamas?" Tsunami asked me, I realize that my clothes looked like something that you could sleep in but that would be strange, but I played along anyways. Kakashi and Sasuke turned to me to see my reaction.

"Oh, I don't sleep in these, I sleep naked." my teammate and sensei's reactions were hilarious, really. They both choked on their food.

Tsunami's eyes were wide. "O-oh, is that so?" she coughed awkwardly.

"Just kidding, I just find it easier to be able to just throw on another tanktop and shorts in the morning."

"Oh, so you sleep in your underclothes?"

"Yes." Sasuke was still choking. (This was naturally hilarious to watch, the 'last Uchiha' losing his cool.) So I smacked him on the back. He stopped naturally, and I'm sure he would have a nice bruise. I smirked as I continued to eat.

-

It was the seventh day, Kakashi almost had full motion back. It was a good thing since he would need it, I also had gotten back all my chakra after a good night's sleep. I acted appropriately surprised upon seeing how high up Naruto was. He chuckled as he yelled down to me and Kakashi. Even against my best wishes, I couldn't help but to laugh as he pretended to fall. Kakashi just stared at me with wide eyes, before turning back to a now, holding on Naruto.

"Just Kidding!" he yelled, showing us a peace sign. He began to laugh at us. I knew what was coming so I began to run forward, and quickly running up his tree. "Oi, what are you doing, Sakura-chan?" he asked between laughs, then, he lost his concentration and began to fall. I was already up there, me and Sasuke each caught one of his feet. Maybe Sasuke hadn't noticed me, but he certainly did now. Our hands touched, or maybe he was just surprised, but he accidentally let go of Naruto. Now I was falling too, since the weight distribution had been between us, and I couldn't adjust that quickly.

"Baka!" I yelled, as I grabbed the wood with my hand, bloodying it. I stopped with a sickening sound. "Shit!" I yelled, as I jumped down, then placed Naruto down.

"A-are you okay, Sakura-chan!?" Naruto asked, panicking.

"D-don't worry." I replied, putting on a smile. I would have found this a lot of pain at twelve, but since I had been training to harden up my skin everyday lately, this was nothing. I quickly healed my hamburger-looking skin. Sasuke was still stunned at the top of the tree. But as I healed myself, he calmed down. Naruto, putting my no longer present injury out of his mind, asked me a question.

"How did you get to me so fast?" Naruto asked. Naturally, I couldn't tell him the truth.

"It was pretty obvious that you were going to lose control," Sasuke came down beside me. "I mean, a bone-head like you couldn't concentrate and laugh at the same time." 'No, the truth is I was afraid you would fall, and Sasuke wouldn't catch you. Since I came here, I've probably changed the future, so, even though nothing has happened yet… just in case.'

"Hmm…" he rubbed his chin, "Oh, I understand."

I could almost hear me, Sasuke, and Kakashi think simultaneously. 'No, you don't.'

"Keep practicing, Naruto! Good luck!" I smiled as I began to walk away. As I walked, Sasuke gave me a pointed look. "I'm fine." I noted, returning the look. "Keep practicing and you should get it by night-fall." I smiled and waved, then quickly ran back.

'Stupid Sasuke and his good instincts.' I noted to myself.

**And being so sexy, and hot.** IS added.

'IIIISSSS!!'

- Sasuke

I don't know what made me let go. It all happened so fast. Me jumping, then Sakura was right next to me, then our hands touched and then… Well, you know. I was just about ready to jump after her, but I couldn't move. She and Naruto made it out alright but… I felt so strange afterwards, what's going on with me?

- Sakura

The rest of the day was rather uneventful. Me and Kakashi-sensei both watched over Tazuna. We ate lunch there, then watched him again, then went home and ate dinner. Then I lounged around, even taking a little nap. And soon enough, the boys were back. I simply watched as Inari began to cry, then shout. Then Naruto began to shout back. And pretty soon, I had to join.

"Naruto! That's enough." I noted as I slammed my hands down. Careful to regulate my strength, so I wouldn't break the table.

"Hm." he walked out, then Inari finished his food in silence, and went and sat on the deck. I watched from a window, but eventually turned around.

-

The next day, everything happened as planned, I woke up, I got dressed, put on my necklaces, tugged a brush through my hair, then put in a pony, then go downstairs. We set off, we arrived and blood was splattered.

"Sensei, I'm going to treat them." I announced, running to a injured man.

"Okay, but stay close." he replied, scanning the mist.

I went straight into medic-nin mode, healing the injured with a minimal amount of chakra.

"Here they come!" Kakashi yelled, I tensed myself, but finished healing. I could feel their presence, but Zabuza wasn't concerned with me. But Haku on the other hand was standing in front of me in the mist. I ignored his presence, and finished healing, then stood up and returned to the others. Zabuza made his water clones, made his speech, then Sasuke destroyed his water clones. I let history place its course.

Zabuza began to speak. "Hmm… he saw through my water clones. That brat has grown, it looks like a rival has appeared… Eh, Haku?"

"Yes, it does." Haku replied. I could feel his gaze on me though.

Kakashi made his proper statement.

"I'll fight him." Sasuke announced. "tricking us with that stupid act… I hat bastards like that the most."

"You do that, Sasuke-kun." I noted dully.

Haku began to speak as well. Making his statement. Then the two of them began to fight.

"Sakura, step in front of Tazuna and don't leave my side. We'll let Sasuke handle him."

"Hai…" I tensed myself up, holding two kunai. Haku and Sasuke began to fight, and Sasuke won in the speed factor.

"Looks like I have the advantage in speed." Sasuke noted.

"I can't have you underestimating me team by calling them "brats". Sasuke's the Leaf Village's #1 rookie. Sakura is the brightest in the village." I couldn't help but feeling proud for that, except I knew it wasn't true, I just got the best written grades. Shikamaru was much brighter than me. "And the other one is…" Kakashi continued, "the show-off, hyperactive, #1 loud-mouth in the village."

"Haku," Zabuza said his sentiments.

Then Haku replied, "Yeah, we can't have that." And activated his kekkai genkai. I honestly wanted to just run in there and break the mirrors already, but for the growth of Sasuke's Sharingan, I held back and let history take place. Haku began to attack.

"If you get past me, I'll kill those two." Zabuza noted.

"Tazuna-san, I'll have to leave you for a moment." I noted, grabbing my kunai.

"Go ahead." I jumped in the air and threw my kunai. Haku caught it. Then Naruto threw his shuriken and scratched Haku's mask, making his grand entry. He yelled, then Zabuza threw shuriken at them. Haku deflected them and asked Zabuza to let him fight them his own way.

Zabuza began to speak. "…You're as soft as always." he finished. There was nothing I could do, I couldn't leave Tazuna on his own. I could tell Kakashi was having the same problem. I rolled my eyes. I had decided that revealing just the tip of the iceberg wouldn't hurt.

"Shadow Clone no Jutsu." I made one clone and had it protect Tazuna's other side. The battle continued. All too soon, Zabuza came for me and Tazuna in the mist, destroyed my shadow clone, Kakashi moved to protect us, and got himself stabbed. I could feel it in the air, Sasuke had gotten his Sharingan.

'Now I can move.' I smirked. I created two more clones, one to heal Kakashi sensei, the other a mix between a body-switch jutsu and the shadow clone jutsu, that was harder to kill than a regular clone, to protect Tazuna, then I hurried off towards Haku's mirrors. I knew Sasuke was in trouble, but the shock of seeing him 'dead' set off IS, just as it set off Naruto's Kyuubi. Black chakra swirled around me as I lost control of my limbs. I watched as my body began to run at the mirrors. IS began destroying them quickly as Naruto fought Haku. I wasn't worried about Naruto going into the next stage of it. I began trying to calm IS down, and soon enough, she was calm enough to put away in my head. I collapsed onto my hands and knees. Soon enough, I stood back up and hurried to Sasuke while Naruto battled with Haku, I extracted the senbon carefully from Sasuke's neck. I healed each wound, but I was beginning to get low on charkra. And, I'll admit it, I was afraid that in this reality, this time, he was dead. When he didn't move even after my best attempts, and I knew I had to stop, my clone would be healing Kakashi soon, and I didn't want to die. I felt something wet on my face. I touched them.

'Tears?' I rubbed my fingers together. It was only then that I broke down. I sobbed onto Sasuke. 'If, he dies, what will I do?' I asked myself over and over again. 'Maybe, this is really happening…' My eyes widened in shock, I bit my tongue to hold in a scream, then I froze, I could hear something splashing on the ground. 'Oh no!' I wheeled around, there was Haku, blood spilling from his wound.

"My future is death?" Zabuza asked. "Heh, you're wrong Kakashi." He continued to speak, then continued on to attempt to slice through them both. I glanced at Sasuke one more time, hping, wishing for history to work the same way again. I wiped my tears and ran as fast as I could to Haku. Just as Kakashi took his hand out, I was there. Kakashi closed Haku's eyes.

"Sensei, let me take over." he nodded then continued on to Zabuza. I felt Haku's pulse, it was completely gone, but he wasn't completely dead yet. I knew his heart had been hit right through. I released both of my clones, then began forming handsigns, the noise of a battle carrying on behind me. I stopped at the dog hand sign. "Thousand dragon healing art." I whispered. I knew, that with Haku alive, Zabuza wouldn't kill himself. I didn't know what the outcome of that would be, but I tried my best. The jutsu began, healing skin, recreating organ, but it was too late. I stopped the jutsu. More tears ran down my cheeks, I wiped them on the back of my hand, and stood up. 'That's right…' I noted bitterly, 'I never quite got number twenty-five down right.' I sniffled, then I took on a hard look. I created one clone to go to Sasuke, even though I was getting dangerously low on chakra. I couldn't help it, I let IS loose, just as Gatou and his band showed up. He kicked Haku's face ignoring me, the little pink-haired kunoichi that was close by.

"Heh, he's dead." the short man smirked as he finished his little speech. I was totally numb as IS took over. It was just as Zabuza came at them as well.

"Wha!" Gatou was surprised. "That's enough, kill them!" he yelled, pointing at the two of us as we rushed forward.

"Sure thing!" they all yelled.

"One badly injured ninja and a little kunoichi?" one man yelled boastfully, "You think you can wi-?" he was the first one IS killed. She kicked and punched, IS infusing each hit with chakra, braking skulls and killing so many. I could feel the blood staining my hands, but the only thing we both could think was kill more, more, MORE! Then, my clone disappeared. I could now only think one thing. 'He's alive! He's alive!' this thoughts sealed IS. I powered chakra to my legs and jumped to Sasuke.

"Sasuke!" I hugged him as he became more aware of his surroundings. Then I heard a sickening thud. I let go of Sasuke and turned around. Zabuza had fallen. My medic desire wanted to pull towards him, but I resisted. He wanted to die with Haku. Soon, the cavalry had arrived, then snow began to fall.

"Snow, its so pure…" I noted, staring up into the falling flakes and rubbing my arms.

"Aa…" Sasuke replied.

- Kakashi

That girl, Sakura, she was killing so mercilessly, I'm surprised she can shake it off, unless, unlike the other two, this isn't the first time she's killed.

- 2 Weeks later, Sakura

I smacked Naruto's hand, as usual, as he tried to steal from the offering unto the two.

"You'll get bad karma." I yelled as I placed a wreath of flowers on Haku's grave.

"Heheh…" Naruto chuckled sheepishly.

"Kakashi-sensei, were these two correct about ninjas?" I turned to my sensei. This was no longer a play, this was the past. And everything I did would change the future. I couldn't help it, for now, I would stick to the past. Kakashi began to speak, I listened, waiting for the chance to agree with Naruto. Then Naruto finally said what I was waiting for,

"Okay, I decided." he noted, "I'm going to be a ninja my own way."

"Me too." I noted, smiling at the blond.

-

Finally, we were saying farewell, I held in a laugh about Naruto and Inari's emotional farewell.

'They really are just like twins.' I noted, quietly chuckling. And with that, we left.

-

Wow, that was long. I'm sorry, it's all smushed, and I was too lazy to write it all out. If you want to see all the speeches and such just read the manga while reading this. If you want to read it online just check out manga-fox(remove hyphen). c o m, it has a lot of great manga. Thank you so much for reading, and for those who were concerned about Sakura, its done! Hurrah! The next chapter will be naturally be about the chuunin exams, so look forward to it. So until then, read, (hopefully) review, vote, and have fun! Cause I'm out! See you next chapter. (Hopefully, once again.)

-Inu


	6. Ready, Set,

Current Votings

Itachi: IIIII

Sasuke: IIIII

Kakashi: I

Itachi had caught back up to Sasuke, keep voting for you favorite guy for Sakura!

-

Some time has passed since our 'first' A-rank mission. My eyes fluttered, and I honestly wanted to fall back to sleep, but due to my mild insomnia, this was impossible, so I groaned and got up. I stalked to bathroom, and began my morning ritual. Shower, brush teeth, walk to room, get dressed, place hair in a quick braid while it dried. I glanced at the calendar, I smiled. The chuunin exams were about to begin, with us (most likely) in it.

-

My hair had dried, so it was back into its normal ponytail, I decided that I would get it cut after the training was over. I walked the streets, accidentally running into Sasuke.

"Mornin'." I noted.

"Hn." You know, after you've heard that noise/word out of him a million times it really starts to get annoying. I was just about ready to rip his neck off.

'If you rip his neck off… that would not be good.' I had to keep repeating this in my head as my walked along the road. Naruto would run into us anyti—Oh here he is.

"Good Morning, Sakura-chan!" he yelled, then he noticed Sasuke. There was a silent glaring battle royal between the two boys. I sighed, and shook my head. They are just so… thirteen.

-

It had been a very long three hours. It was true that I was the queen of being late, but that was just because I needed as much sleep as possible. To pass the time I had practiced walking up the fence next to us. But pretty soon, he was there.

"Hey Guys! I got lost." Kakashi noted. That was one of the worst ones I've heard yet. Really…

"You're late, and a disgrace to all ninja!" Naruto yelled as always, I just played absentmindedly with a strand of hair.

**Oh, Sakura, reminder, we need to go see the Hokage again.** IS told me.

'Thanks for the reminder.' I replied as Naruto went into a whole shpeal about how our missions were too easy, but before long, we were off again.

- Mission End

"You honestly shouldn't get so beat up on missions this easy." I growled as I rubbed my temples with one hand, supporting Naruto with the other. Naruto chuckled sheepishly to me.

"Pft… Can't you take care of yourself?" Sasuke noted. This, naturally, as always, got Naruto furious. I held him back.

"If you settle down, I can heal your wounds already." I noted, getting angry as well.

"Fine." he stopped moving and I began to work.

"Teamwork seems to be suffering lately." Kakashi noted. Naruto began yelling again, about Sasuke hogging the spotlight.

Sasuke began to speak as well. And he ended with a "Then just become to stronger than me."

'Sasuke, you honestly need to get over this superiority complex. It's just stupid how jealous you get of other people's powers.' I noted, growling inwardly.

Then Kakashi began to speak, about he had to leave. I had seen it too, the hawk. I knew where he was going and why.

Sasuke left soon after that.

"Sakura-chan, do you want to get some ramen with me?" Naruto asked quickly.

"…Can't…" I noted, thinking about what was supposed to happen next.

- Sasuke

Why isn't Sakura calling out to me? I mean, I should be used to her non-fangirl actions by now, but strangely, I'm not.

Note to Self: Keep an eye on Sakura, she's still acting strange.

- Sakura

Konohamaru(sp?) was there, hiding under his strange card-board box rock. I watched in silence as they revealed themselves and conversed, and I couldn't help saying the same things as I once had.

"Why would a ninja… Play ninja…?" then I simply shook my head incredulously at him.

'Once upon a time, I was weaker than him? Well, I guess I always was behind him…' Konohamaru got an idea.

"…she's your…?" Konohamaru held up his pinky.

"Heheh, you brats are pretty perceptive…" I quickly proceeded to punch Naruto in the face, forgetting to un-augment it.

'Whoopsie… I noted, scratching my head sheepishly as he began to go through the same wall.

**We've always been super-strong!** IS enthused.

'Not so much…' I noted. But when I thought about it, I had always naturally augmented moves with chakra, I just hadn't perfected it until I was Tsunade-sama's student. Then again, I never really got the chance to use it in battle at this age.

Konohamaru was yelling, at Naruto, but mainly at me.

"You ugly bitch!" he finished. I cracked my knuckles.

"You want some don't you." I asked menacingly. He simply squeaked and backed off.

-

They were both beaten up. And I had refused to heal them. Then Konohamaru spoke again, and he said one of my taboo words.

"Ugly huge forehead…" I was running at him like a missile, but he ran into the Sabaku siblings, minus Gaara. I could feel his presence in a nearby tree. I noticed as a hawk flew overhead.

'There's a meeting going on right now…' I noted to myself, glancing at it, then back at Temari and Kankuro.

They all began to converse, Kankuro picking up the smaller boy.

"Let's play a little before the boss comes." Kankuro smirked.

"Bastard!" Naruto ran at him, but got easily stopped.

"Oh, leaf genin are weak." Kankuro noted. Now, I was getting pissed at him. They all continued to fight, but soon enough Sasuke appeared.

"What are you bastards doing in my village?" Sasuke asked, throwing a rock up and down in his hand.

"Temari and Kankuro no Sabaku have both shown up for the chuunin exams." I noted, looking at the siblings.

"What? How do you know our names?!" Kankuro yelled at me.

"I could tell you more about you if you'd like." I smiled. His eyes widened. "Like, your other teammate, Gaara no Sabaku, is your boss, even though you're both older than him. Temari-san, your specialty is fans/wind, and Kankuro-san, your specialty, like many others in the sand, is puppets." I smiled once more.

- Sasuke

How does Sakura know who these bastards are? Does she have access to the records?

- Sakura

"You little bitch…" he grabbed Karasu off his back.

"That puppet is called Karasu!" I smiled, it was fun provoking Kankuro.

"Kankuro, stop it."

'Enter Gaara.' I noted dully in my head.

**Enter Panda-kun!!** IS yelled.

'Oh, yeah that is what my nick-name for him was… I'd use it now, but he'd probably kill me.' Gaara began to speak again and knocked me out of my thoughts.

"You're an embarrassment to our village." he continued to speak, but I zoned him out. Thinking about all Gaara's accomplishments. Kankuro spoke back to him, and they conversed, then Gaara disappeared.

- Gaara

To be able to hit that Kankuro with a stone… He's good. And why does that girl know so much about us?

- Sakura

Gaara reappeared next to his siblings. I zoned out the conversation, it was similar to the last one, except, I didn't speak. Also, when Sasuke came next to us, he didn't find a need to ask for a name.

"What's your name?" Gaara asked.

"Me? I'm Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm going to be Hokage one day and…" I quickly slammed my hand over Naruto's mouth.

"He's not asking you, he's asking Sasuke." I muttered.

"Uchiha Sasuke." Sasuke noted, ignoring Naruto.

"Not you, the one with pink hair." Gaara noted, getting pissed.

"Me?" I asked, surprised. He was silent. "I'm Haruno Sakura."

"Hmm…" He turned away. "Let's go." The three of them left.

'Rude much?'

**But Panda-kun is ****soooo**** cyute!**

'Shut up IS, we need to go train.'

"Bye." Sasuke quickly took off. He was probably pissed that Gaara had wanted my name. I could feel the genin from the sound watching in a tree.

"Sooo… Sakura-chan…" Naruto turned to me.

"I'm going to go train." I quickly walked off.

"That's mean Sakura-chan!!" Naruto yelled after me. I chuckled quietly, and hurried home.

-

I yawned as I woke up the next morning. I traveled to the shower, still half-asleep. As I was brushing my hair, I noticed that it was starting to get kind of curly. I chuckled to myself.

''Member how we used to get up early just to blow-dry my hair straight.'

**Yeah, we definitely look better once we got our curls.** IS noted.

'Oh well, ponytail as always!' I finshed getting dressed. Glancing at the clock. It was ten, our arranged meeting time was at nine.

'Crap! I remember Kakashi only turned up an hour late today!!' I finished getting ready, tying my head band, then racing to our meeting spot, letting myself expose a couple of my moves, just to get me there faster.

"You're late!" Naruto yelled at me. "Even later than Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto yelled.

"Sorry, I overslept." I noted, the lie slipping out very naturally.

"Now that we're all assembled." Kakashi began to explain, Naruto shouting in surprise. Soon enough, his explanation was done, and we all walked off together.

Naruto began to rave on and on, I tuned most of it out, catching snippets of it. I was stuck in thought, remembering about how the last time this time had come I had been wondering whether I should. And I'll admit, I was brimming with excitement.

**Maybe we can become a chuunin this time, just like Shikamaru! **IS cheered.

'Yeah, maybe. But tomorrow, it begins.'

-

We arrived at the examination location. Naruto was chattering non-stop. It was almost funny, but mostly I just tuned him out, until he got too annoying and I punched him on the head.

"Shut up." I growled through my teeth.

"Hai!" he saluted me, I rolled my eyes at the boy.

"You're such a retard." I noted. Then I saw the crowd. I chuckled, but felt outraged as I saw Tenten fly through the air. The two Leaf guards were standing there. I glanced at the door, I already knew it was the wrong floor, so I simply yawned. Sasuke began speaking to them, he even spoke to me. This made me wonder why, since last time I had been down and he had noticed.

"Of course I realized, this is only the second floor." Sasuke smirked beside me, I simply yawned.

The scene continued to play out in front of m—

'Gah! This is really happening Sakura, snap out of it!' I yelled at myself. Then I directed my attention back at my teammate when Lee caught his foot. I knew what was coming next, and I was freaked out, though I didn't let it show on the outside. Lee was already walking towards me.

"Hi, my name is Rock Lee. So yours is Sakura?" he flashed his classic good-guy smile. "Let's go out together, I'll protect 'til the day I die." The flash of his teeth nearly, once again, blinded me.

'I seriously need to figure out him and Gai manage to do that…' I noted to myself.

**I think they're hiding a flashlight, that turns on when they make a thumbs-up sign.** IS noted.

'Very possible…' I replied.

- Sasuke

For some reason I feel like beating this weird guy. I mean why is he flirting with Sakura? I mean, she has a big forehead, is really annoying, and is really strong… I mean who would want a girl like that? Then he asked her out. For some reason I feel outraged? I mean why is he asking my Sakura out? Oh no, please tell me I did not just say 'my Sakura'! I need to find a good wall to bang my head on…

- Sakura

"No way." I noted. He looked immediately downfallen.

I ignored as Neji asked Sasuke's name.

**Atleast Panda-kun asked for our name!** IS cried out indignantly.

'That's probably just because I knew so much about them.' I replied, yawning again. Naruto grabbed my wrist and dragged me along. Then for some reason, Sasuke glared at him. I couldn't tell why, since my mind had gone off to lala land. Stupid chuunin exams, making me actually wake up on time.

-

We were approaching the stairs.

'Here comes Lee…' I noted. He showed up, and of course, challenged Sasuke. I yawned as I continued to ignore their conversation, up until the creepiest part of this entire thing. I began to avoid Lee's kisses, the way a cat would. I freaked out on the first one, I accidentally powered myself onto a pillar. He sent more at me, I avoided, jumping onto the top of the building, and all around. When he stopped I yelled, "Stop doing that! It's creepy!"

- Sasuke

Wow, this guy is gross, and what's with the actually being able to see each kiss he blows. I would have killed him if one of those had actually touched Sa—Me. What am I thinking? anyways, I need to fight him.

- Sakura

I blocked out the conversation once again, but I'll admit, I jumped when Gai-sensei made his 'dynamic entry!' I also freaked out when Sasuke was falling, not because I was 'in love with him' like last time, but simply out of the fact he was my teammate, and having a broken limb wouldn't help us out at all. Then, I ignored it again, but turning when the time was right.

Then, they left. I then saw Lee's scars. It took all I had not to run up and heal him. My tongue almost bled, I was biting it so hard. Then I got pissed as Naruto began to tease Sasuke. Now my tongue was bleeding, I sent chakra to it, and let it go, clenching my teeth instead. But soon enough, they were done, and we were off to the exams.

-

I ignored Sasuke and Naruto's reactions as we entered the room. I had seen many more people the one time I got to do a venue in the exams. When Ino latched onto Sasuke I simply ignored her. I could feel her glare of challenge, I simply brushed it off.

"Hey Forehead!" she yelled at me, getting pissed by my ignorance.

"Yes?"

"Sasuke-kun is mine." she stuck her tongue out at me and made a face.

"Okay." I replied, assessing all the shinobi in the room.

"What the hell is wrong with you forehead?!" Ino yelled at me. But luckily, I was spared answering when Hinata's team walked up.

- Sasuke

Oh my goodness, I swear, Ino must be the most annoying girl on the planet. Sakura would have won that award before, but now…

"Sasuke-kun is mine." Ino asserted; I didn't even glance at her. I was measuring Sakura's expression. And for some reason I was pissed when she simply muttered,

"Okay."

And didn't even glance at Ino. For some reason I just wanted yell at her. I wonder what this feeling is…

- Sakura

I tuned out conversation until Kabuto showed up. I silent anger leaked out of me, and I holed IS up in a corner of my mind. And when Kabuto brought out the cards and Sasuke asked for Gaara and Rock Lee's I quickly spoke up.

"Could I see my card?" I asked. "The name is Haruno Sakura." He brought out all the cards, he handed me my own. I was surprised, it was fairly right, I mean, it wasn't as impressive as what I could really do, but for what I had shown, it was fairly on target. I handed it back, and soon enough, the exam began.

-

This wasn't quite as long as the last chapter, but I wanted to get it out to you guys as soon as possible. :D Anyways, the reason it took so long is that I've had school, and there have been so many releases on my manga sites I check regularly. Hehe… That and I just put it off, but here it is. Enjoy!

-Inu


	7. Go!

Current Voting!

Itachi: IIIIIIII

Sasuke: IIIIII

Kakashi: I

Wow. ItaSaku has certainly taken the lead. Too bad it'll be a while 'til he shows up. ;P

-

I absentmidedly played with my pencil Ibiki's entire explanation. I mean, I'll admit he's brilliant at what he does, but his explanations always take such a long time. Fortunately, soon enough the test began. I holed IS up, since I knew that in order for Ino to pass this, she needed to cheat off me.

'Ha! The one thing I've always been better than Sasuke at…' I noted, smirking to myself as I quickly finished the test. So enough, I felt Ino take over my body. I carefully restrained myself as she cheated off me. In my spare time, I watched as Hinata tried to show Naruto her test. But of course, he did it obviously, and decided not to. Soon enough, Ino was out of me. I really felt like just talking to her a little, maybe delaying her a second or two, but I managed to restrain myself. And soon, it was time for the tenth question. I wasn't worried, I knew what Naruto would do. So I just sat there with a little smile on my face. Not a large one, just the very corners of my mouth turned up. Anko showed up, making a entrance pretty close to the way Gai would (without the creepy poses). She explained the next venue. And soon enough, we were done.

-

When we arrived at the Forest of Death I was half-asleep, I leaned on Sasuke's shoulder unconsciously, and for some reason he looked really uncomfortable with it.

- Sasuke

Why is she falling asleep on my shoulder? For some reason, this whole arrangement makes me feel weird, and is it just me, or are my cheeks getting warmer?

- Sakura

Since I was half-asleep, it was even easier to ignore Anko's speech. But I couldn't help but noticing her creepiness once more. When I saw the tongue that held out the kunai to her, I jumped, waking myself up, and slightly startling Sasuke. I was fuming, since only I knew that it was Orochimaru. But I could tell she gave him more of a peering eye.

'Hokage-sama must have informed her to watch out for Orochimaru at this stage of the exam.' I noted to myself.

**Yep.** IS nodded mentally.

Now that I was wide awake, I took notice of different things, some shinobi I had met on the battlefield. But soon enough, I got the slip. I quickly signed it, unafraid. Should anything bad happen, I would quickly reveal many of my skills to save my teammates. And, with training twice a day since I had arrived in this time period, I had gotten to about the level I had been when I had been training with Tsunade for about three weeks. (yes, Tsunade's training was that grueling.) We all marched to our gates, and soon, we were off.

-

When Naruto walked off to piss, (after me lecturing him about peeing in front of a girl, of course), I knew what was about to happen. When he showed up badly henged, I noticed. I mean, I guess they were genins after all, but still! I rolled my eyes, but let Sasuke take care of it. And, I'll admit, I was so happy that I was of use this time. I quickly got to Naruto as Sasuke battled the genin. I untied him, but other than that the battle went on mostly the same. Then, I felt Orochimaru's presence.

**If I had to give it a color, it would be purple.** IS noted.

'Shut up, we're making the password right now.' Soon enough, the three of them showed up, and blew Naruto away. And when Naruto showed up and actually knew the password, it was painfully obvious that it wasn't him. I glared at him his entire speech. And when he swallowed his scrolls I nearly shuddered at how gross he was. And when the genjutsu began, I wasn't scared at all. For one, I knew what was going on, and two, Orochimaru's genjutsu wasn't half as good as mine own, or older Sasuke's. I simply had IS stop my chakra flow, and I quickly turned to Sasuke and interrupted his. He barfed, I guess he had watched the entire thing before I had gotten to him.

"A genjutsu type, I see." he noticed, throwing two kunai at us. I tried to move, but my body still couldn't react as quickly as I could see it. Sasuke had stabbed himself and got us out of there. He was panting. He pulled out the kunai.

"Sasuke, hold still." I noted, holding my hands to his thigh. They glowed green as I began to mend his wound. He merely panted and stared at me, then turned to look back. But I could see that he was thinking about the enemy we were facing. Soon enough, his wound was partially patched up. I couldn't finish, because I knew I would need my chakra later.

"Sasuke! Snake!" I yelled, as I moved my body out of the way. He moved as well. But of course, the snake went after him, rather than me. This pissed me off, even though I was in the middle of a battle. Orochimaru came out of the snake, after Sasuke had taken him down. Soon enough, Naruto arrived as well. They all spoke, and I watched as Naruto punched Sasuke. They began to speak.

"I'm the real Sasuke." Sasuke noted.

'Yes, you are. Since the real Sasuke has always been a coward in the face of opposition and death.'

**And Sexy.**

'Shut the heck up!' I holed IS away. By the time I came back to the situation, Naruto had already released the 9-tailed Kyuubi. I was so angry, especially as Orochimaru picked him up with his tongue. I watched as he sealed the nine-tail's chakra, then Naruto fainted.

"Sasuke!" I yelled, anger coming on in waves. "It may be true that Naruto is clumsy, stupid, and an air-head, but atleast he's not a coward like you!" Sasuke struggled with himself for a moment, and when he opened his eyes, the Sharingan was spinning inside. I watched as he and Orochimaru fought, making myself wait until later to attack. After Sasuke had burned off Orochimaru's fake face, I hurried to him. He was speaking and froze Sasuke. But naturally I was unaffected. I really yearned to just go after Orochimaru but I held myself back, I couldn't fully attack him until Sasuke was unconscious as well. 'But not in that way again.' I growled to myself.

**Shannaro.** IS agreed. When Orochimaru extended his neck to bite Sasuke, my body worked faster than my mind, I jumped in front of him, Orochimaru's eyes widened; he grazed my arm with one tooth, but still passed me onto Sasuke. I cringed; the pain was running through my body. I was not hurt and pissy, so much that I grabbed his neck as he bit Sasuke and broke it. He still pulled back. The near immortal was vaguely unaffected as he pulled back.

"Sasuke-kun will come to me for power." Orochimaru noted, staring intensely at me. The heaven seal appeared on my arm. "And you might too, if you survive." He noted as he sunk into the ground. IS appeared, she was burning mad, she took over as I fainted, like Sasuke.

-

When I woke up, Sasuke's breathing was nearly normal, and IS wasn't fuming anymore.

**If that stupid Orochi-gay-ru thinks that I'm going to let him take over you he's got another thing coming.** she growled. I noticed that all the pain was gone, but the seal was still there. I grabbed some medicinal tape from my pouch and wound it over the seal. Then I set to work on Sasuke, sending a small sliver a chakra to check out his seal.

'Stupid Snake-sannin and his complicated chakra pattern.' I growled. His chakra felt as though multiple things had interlaced their chakra, and it changed often, making it impossible to crack. But, at the least, I could numb the chakra strings that ran all around it, easing most of the pain IS hadn't taken care of. My body was tense, since I knew that the three from the sound would be arriving soon, and fighting those from the Sound had never been my forte.

I could feel and hear them in the trees nearby. Exhaustion was rearing its ugly head at me, so I grabbed some soldier pills from my bag and tossed them in my mouth. When I saw the squirrel, I threw a kunai at it, knowing that Lee would take off the explosion tag from it. I could feel and hear it in the air, they were posing to strike. I could also feel Lee a ways off.

'Hurry Lee.' I silently lamented.

"Hehe… Up all night?" Dosu asked.

**You know what you're going to die, so ha! You stupid sound bastard—**

'Stop distracting me!' she shut up quickly.

He continued speaking to me, and I was already tired and very **very** pissed.

"Well I'm sorry, you're just going to have to wait a moment." I growled. " Orochimaru just bit him on the freaking neck and left a curse mark. He needs to rest up. How about you come back later and then we'll talk." Their eyes widened simultaneously, and I would have found it funny was I not angry. They boys both spoke.

"Like hell you're goin to kill me." I growled.

"Wait Zaku." Dosu noted. He walked up to my trap.

"The classic wire hidden in the wire's shadow trick eh?" he took a step over it and weapons were flung at them from all directions.

"You triggered the third wire." I noted. They all jumped, avoiding the weapons with ease. Then I cut a two wires, one visible, and the other not so much. Logs came at them in both directions, along with rocks. Dosu used his sound to break the one, and they went through the hole, escaping through it.

"Not very good are you?" he asked.

'Pft. You're just saying that.' I noted inwardly.

"Since we have no use for her; kill her." they tried to move towards me, but of course, Lee made his grand entrance.

"Konoha senpuu!" he cried as he performed one of his classic moves.

"Then you guys should be more useful." Lee posed in front of me, with the squirrel on his shoulder.

**Hurray for Lee! He's so hot!!!**

'What's wrong with you?'

**Remember the time we took the tweezers to his bushy brows? Hotness!**

'Shut up, mid-battle, remember?'

**Oh yeah...**

"Who are you?" Dosu asked.

"The Beautiful Green Beast of the Hidden Leaf." Lee announced. "Rock Lee!"

'Lame-o it rhymes.' I noted, chuckling inwardly.

"Why did you come?" I asked, mostly just because I wanted to hear the catchphrase that would come in a second.

"I will always appear when you are in trouble." he replied. I nearly lost it there. But fortunately, I managed to restrain my laughter.

"Well, thanks for coming."

"Didn't I say it before?" he asked. "I will protect you until I die…" I lost it, I snorted, biting my lip. But he didn't notice. Dosu spoke, and soon came after us. I stood just behind Lee, simply since I knew what he was about to do. He spoke, surprising our enemies with his thoughts.

"But at 2 against 3, we're at the disadvantage." Lee noted. I nearly snorted again. Even with my limited chakra supply, and much less endurance, I was atleast at a high chuunin level. I could feel Shikamaru and his team nearby. Lee began unwinding his bandages, looking unusually solemn.

"Don't go too far, Lee-san." I advised, smiling at him. "Let's fight together." I took a battle stance.

"Okay, Sakura-chan." he smiled back at me, then he took on a similar battle stance. Even though he was a much less experienced compared to the last time I had fought with Lee, I still knew I could keep in step with him, only a much slower due to his activating of the Lotus, but I still had my super strength, so naturally, I punched the ground, creating cracks that almost touch the tree where Naruto and Sasuke lay unconscious, but limiting my strength.

- Ino

Who knew forehead could get so strong so quickly! I can't let her get ahead of me! I better train more!

- Shikamaru

Troublesome.

- Sakura

Even with my rupturing of the ground, so roots and rocks were jutting out, Zaku still managed to soften the ground, leaving Dozu with only a few scratches after Lee's technique. I began to run at the sound-wielding genin as he run at Lee, who was still shaky after his technique. But since I didn't want to get to close, I merely punched the ground, directing all the shock to delaying Dozu, while I ran to Lee, and moved him out of the way.

"Rest Lee-san." I noted, forcing myself to use the suffix. Dozu was angry, so he came at me now, I set up a chakra wall around me in order to deflect the sound as I moved.

"So the little pink girl is all talk." Dozu noted. He attempted to use it against me again, but I deflected once more, and my shield broke. I was free to attack.

'Stupid sound nin.' I noted as her punched at me again. But Lee protected me.

"Lee don—" the sound hit him, he threw up and his ear began to bleed. 'Crap.' As Lee fell to his knees, Dosu explained his moves, followed by Zaku. I hurried to Lee and began to attempt to fix his ear, but I couldn't do it in the time needed. Dosu came for me, and Lee tried to help again. He was hit with another wave of sound. Dosu was still speaking.

"Now let's finish this."

"I won't let you!" I growled, throwing kunai at him. He deflected it.

"Oh, geez…" Dosu noted. I threw more shuriken at him, with strings, I shot them all out in different directions, but Zaku got in the way. He blasted them all with air pressure. A sudden pain shot out from the curse mark, slowing all motion in my body, and Kin took this time to grab my hair. Out of impulse, I shot out chakra to my scalp and numbed it. Kin started talking to me. I clenched my teeth, and bit my tongue, making myself hold still.

"If you have time treat your hair the go train, you female swine." Kin smirked.

"How about you take a shower once in a while, they're good for you hygiene." IS had numbed the pain that flowed out of the curse mark. So I was back to full speed. I grabbed a senbon needle from my pouch and stuck it into her wrist. She let go of me and screamed with pain. "And like hell I'm trying to be sexy, what's the point?" I noted, glaring. I grabbed a fistful of hair, a kunai, and proceeded to chop it off. Though it was not as short as last time, only to my shoulders, it still left an impact. I released it and let it flutter to the ground. "If anyone's trying to sexy, it's you."

"Why you little bitch!" Kin drew several senbon out of her pouch with one hand, I swiftly avoided each one, seeing as she wasn't quite up to par with her teammates. I quickly made and invisible shadow clone and performed a kawarimi. Both me and my hidden clone came at him, me from the front, her from the back. I simply ran at him, my fist poised in the air. When I was about ten feet away from him I jumped, but he blew me back, sending me flying and into the ground. Rock shards flew up and scratched me during the impact. I was panting now.

'Crap, I'm nearly out of chakra.' I noted. So I resorted to a similar tactic to before. As he punched me I could only think one thing. 'Stupid,' _whack_ 'untrained body, since I wouldn't,' _whack_ 'be in this situation if it wasn't for that,' _whack_ 'Sasuke-teme attacking,' _whack_ 'Konoha!' He was still yelling at me as he tried to get me off. Finally, he succeeded. But I wasn't scared, I knew that soon I would receive help. Team InoShikaCho appeared right on time. I couldn't help but allow a little smile appear in relief. They all conversed, and soon enough, Chouji was angry.

**Note to self: Never call Chouji fat, or eat his last piece of food.**

'Agreed.' I noted. Watching as Chouji got fired up. They all were fighting, I desperately wished I could help. Once again I cursed Sasuke, myself, and this situation. Fortunately, soon Neji and Tenten showed up as well. But I knew what would happen next. Words were exchanged, and then with a word from Neji, Sasuke woke up.

"Sakura, who did that to you?" Sasuke asked, murderous intent swarmed around his body like a bloody cloak.

- Sasuke

I didn't have time to think, here was Sakura, all beaten and bruised, her hair much shorter too. I will kill whoever did this to her…

- Sakura

"Sasuke…" I stared at him, it wasn't the curse mark that made my eyes wide, it was the fact that he could easily kill me at this moment. "No…"

"Don't worry…" he began to speak to me, in his normal semi-monotone voice. "…I am on a path where I must gain power." he finished. Tears budded out of my eyes. I'll admit, I was always, in some ways, a failure as a ninja. I have never been able to hide my emotions. As I remembered all the anguish that curse seal had created for everyone it's influence touched. Tears began to pierce at my eyes.

"No… No… No, no, no…" I began to whisper the one word over and over again. My mumbled mantra.

"Now… It was you guys, right?" tears rolled down my cheeks. Ino's team quickly retreated. I watched with blurry vision as Sasuke began to attack Zaku. The crazed smile that appeared when he had Zaku was painfully clear to me. The crunch that appeared as he pulled his arms out of their sockets echoed in my ears. I was working on sheer instinct as I began to rise. I ran to him, moving as fast as possible. "No!!!" I yelled as I grabbed a hold of him.

"Please… Stop…" my tears were soaked into the back of his shirt, as I pressed my face into him. His body burned as all his curse seal began to snake back into it's original form. My own seal began to burn as well, I clenched my teeth against the pain. I caught him as he fell; barely being able to stand on my own. I watched as they retreated. Then I turned my attention to Sasuke.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"What happened to…" he trailed off, testing his arms. Naruto woke up soon after that, he his antics comic relief in the tense situation. I simply chuckled lightly, and when he noticed my hair I said the same thing as last time. Brushing it off. I performed many of the same things, such as punching Naruto in the face for calling Lee thick-brows.

**That is what he is though.**

'Shut up.'

I also thanked Lee, but unlike last time I stated, "Who knows what would have happened if you hadn't come." he naturally teared up. Him and Sasuke talked, and Lee spoke to me. Noting that the lotus blooms twice and amking a promise to me. I smiled in reply and spoke a quick. "You better."

"Hey Sakura!" Ino started to yell at me, wanting to cut my hair.

"Sure." I walked to her.

"You are so dirty." she noted in hushed tones, angry at me. "Hugging him like that… You large forehead."

"…" I was getting angry at her too. "Look, Sasuke-te-kun doesn't need a girlfriend. Just a teammate, so that's all I'll be." I noted, standing up and walking away from her. "Thanks for doing my hair." She just stared at me, opening and closing her mouth like a fish. I felt Neji up in a nearby tree. He was quietly assessing Sasuke. I sighed and moved my eyes to the sky. This is only day one.

-

Oh my gosh, I just noticed. Hinata had already killed someone. Shy, timid Hinata. That is just tooo weird. Who cares if her teammates forced her to. That is soooo weird. And Lee just having a random wind following him? LMAO! (Heheheh) Oh wait, that's just his movement. Whoopsie! Anyways, thank you for reading! I hope you review, but you have no obligation. Just, if you do, please vote for you favorite Sakura/? couple. Anyways, peace out, gangsta style! :D


	8. Author's Note

OK! I've decided, it will be an ItaSakuSasu! Closing poll! (Imitates closing a door). And I don't know who'll she be with in the end, but you'll just have to find out. Here's the final tally.

There you got it! Votes will no longer be counted! Ja ne!

-Inu


	9. Finish Line

This one took me a really long time. XD Wow, I'm such a procrastinator.

-

"THIS IS REALLY TIRING!!" Naruto yelled, making my eyebrow twitch annoyedly. "YOU DO IT!" It was a fortunate thing I was able to keep my composure. The sticks were ready, so I hurriedly looked around, made a single handsign with one hand, making a fire appear at the end of my finger, I quickly put it to the kindling and watched as the fire came to life.

"Fire's done!" I announced, looking down over the hill at them.

"Three's enough." Sasuke announced, which sent Naruto once more into a fury. Sasuke began to speak about how close the end of the exam was. I threw in my anecdotes here and there. Naruto was as clueless (and hungry) as ever. Sasuke was staring seriously at the scroll. I wasn't too worried, I knew what most of the rest of the exam would be like. Soon Sasuke went off and Naruto suggested his crazy plan.

"Naruto, if you do that, you'll get knocked out, and our team will fail this exam." I noted, give him a doubtful look.

"How would you know?"

"Believe me," I gave him my sharpest look. "I know." He froze up for a few seconds, then shook his head.

"I'm going to try it anyways…" he tried to open it, but Kabuto appeared out of the shadows and stopped him. I did my best to not chew the man in half, and keep a surprised look on my face.

Sasuke came back right about then. This began the both of them lecturing Naruto (and me a little bit). Then they spoke to eachother, then Kabuto left. I glanced towards the trees. The mist shinobi honestly sucked at hiding themselves, at least Kabuto had put up a good mask for his chakra. When Kabuto glanced at him he flinched, and soon we began moving towards the tower. Kabuto explaining the way the enemies were thinking. After Naruto had attacked the centipede, I made a few laps with the team, then decided to point the centipede out myself, rather than tire us all out. Naruto was naturally surprised, and I could feel Kabuto's watchful stare on me. But, he looked away soon enough to speak with Sasuke.

**I Say we just knock them all out, wipe out the bastards, grab their scroll, and call it a day.**

'No, 'cause then it'd be really suspicious once they woke up.'

**Fine, but I still like my plan better.**

'Oh well.'

Soon enough, the clones started to emerge all around us. I made a silent set of handsigns, creating several invisible clones to run into the trees, just in case.

"Hehe, you're trapped rats." one of the clones chuckled. This pissed Naruto off of course, so he started to attack the clones. Sasuke tried to find the secret out with his Sharingan, but all the good that did was activate the curse seal. I rolled my eyes, and made a quick handsign.

'Kai.' I whispered in my head, all the clones disappeared. I could've just gone and wiped them all out right then, but I still had to keep my powers secret. They were all speaking to each other, and I simply ignored it, carefully watching the men watching us from the trees. I was easily able to avoid each kunai, shuriken, or otherwise sent by them. My teammates (plus that stupid Kabuto) didn't fare quite as well. Soon enough though, Naruto made his bunshins and began to attack. He made us as well and we went to hide in the bushes. But the mist genin believed it easily enough.

'Meh, genins…'

Sasuke tried to take over, but Naruto refused of course. Then they made a bunch of clones, but they weren't real in the least. I was easily able to see through them, by the time Kabuto was down and they were about to attack him did I spook a little, the sheer force of Kabuto's killer aura after he was slashed was amazing. When Naruto attacked them instead of Kabuto I could only think one thing.

'Damn, they're lucky they missed the force of Kabuto's attack, he would've killed them.'

**Shannaro…**

My medic nin skills honestly told me to go heal Kabuto's wound, but I held myself back, he didn't need my help, nor the knowledge that I was a medic nin. He asked Sasuke about his curse mark. I could only glare at him, and seriously bite my tongue to keep from losing my composure. Fortunately, soon enough, Naruto had retrieved the scroll and were headed off. I supported Sasuke on the way. We said our partings to Kabuto and his team then entered through the door. We walked, I supported Sasuke, but he told me he was okay and took his arm off me.

"If you say so." I noted.

**You know hilarious it would be for Sasuke to fall over right here?**

'And just imagine how embarrassed he would look.' Sakura inwardly smirked.

**Wanna push him?**

'Can't that would be too suspicious.'

**Awwn…**

I noticed that Naruto was getting the idea of what to do in here so I pointed to the sign.

"Hey, look at that!" We all conversed about the sign, then brought out the scrolls. Naruto and I opened them simultaneously. They began to smoke. Sasuke yelled at us to let go of them, I wasn't worried, but acted accordingly. Iruka-sensei naturally appeared.

"Hey, long time no see." he smirked. He spoke to us for a while, then it was over. Second test passed.

- Wow that was uninspired, or long. I swear I get lazier everyday. I'm sorry for the crap chapter, I'm just so involved in studying (-cough-Manga&Anime-cough-) that I simply well… Forgot about this. I haven't been to this website for a while. (Darn you amazing manga!!!) And this is my shortest chapter ever. (sob) ANyways, ignoring the crazy author, thank you so much for reading. (Hopefully) See you next chapter. (Which I promise to get started on today!)

Oh! New poll! Who do you want Hinata to end up with? Anyone except the two in the Sakura triangle. Next poll will be Tenten. :P

-Inu


	10. Growth

Oh my gosh! I love all of you who have read this far. I mean, I have 36 reviews (which is tied for second in my stories, _Many days, many ways to say I love you._ of course is first. This is also first in alerts and seconds in favorites to the same. It also only has half as many hits, but that isn't important, seeing as that has been on a year. I love you all! :D

-

Here we all were just standing at attention while we were lectured to. I suppressed a yawn. This kind of thing was always boring, but I had never known just how boring it was until the second time around. Then again, last time I had been entertained by just staring at Sasuke and trying to block it all out. Right now I simply watched Gai-sensei, since he always had some of the funniest expressions, especially around Kakashi-sensei.

**It still makes me wonder, is Gai just wrong in the head or gay for Kakashi?**

'Shut up! You'll make me laugh!' I yelled at my inner, biting back a giggle.

**Wow! You must be bored! Just imagine; the power of youth, in bed.**

I couldn't help it I snorted. I could feel most of the people turn to stare, but when I returned to a passive expression most of them looked away. Sasuke's gaze lingered on me a couple seconds longer than most, then looked away. The hokage began to speak and I simply droned him out, I had been attentive on this part, and beside, I had gone through the chuunin exams again after, all, so it was all too easy to ignore.

**In bed. **I snorted once more, but quieter this time so no one noticed.

Soon enough, the referee showed up, and laid down the line, Kabuto quickly excused himself of course, and I did my best not to show my inner hatred for him and the 'cleverly' disguised Orochimaru closeby.

'I didn't know that he would be here a second time, I'll need to report this to Hokage-sama…' I noted to myself.

Soon, Sasuke's curse seal acted up, "Sasuke, hold still." I whispered in my soothing medic-nin voice, Naruto looked back at us. I raised a hand and touched his, he flinched, but I ignored it, scooting his hand out of the way. I touched his curse mark, dulling the pain. He looked back at me bewildered.

"I'm not going to tell you to give up this match, as long as you will tell sensei about this soon." I noted, looking him in the eye.

"…Hn." he turned away.

- Normal POV

"We should removed him from the exam!" Anko cried.

"Don't worry," Kakashi watched as Sakura touched hi mark and his expression lost the sharp edge of the pain. "He is from that clan after all, I will address this matter afterwards, until then, Haruno-chan will take care of him." His expression was almost solemn as he was reminded of his own past, he shook his head minutely, clearing the thought from his head. Their conversation continued but with the Hokage's final words, Anko gave up.

- Sakura POV

Soon enough, the explanation was over, it was Sasuke and Yoroi again. But I couldn't pay much attention to the match. I was mulling over my match, should I win? Should I not? I wasn't sure in the least, even though I knew that chances were Kakashi might need my help. But at the same time the random selector might match me up with someone else, but who knew who? I ignored this fact, even though the chances were rather high, despite the same match-up for the first round. I turned my attention back to the match, this was when I needed to yell.

"Sasuke-kun!" his eyes snapped open, not that it would do to much good at the moment. But I knew he would win with the Lion Rendan in the end, so I wasn't too worried, and before I knew it, it was over, I stifled a yawn. His curse-mark had activated mid-way through, as expected, but he was able to push it back. I winced, mine reverberated in return. And as I glanced/glared at Orochimaru I was honestly disgusted out of my mind by his expression, as though Sasuke was something to eat, and were I able to in this body, I would have honestly killed the man. Kakashi departed with Sasuke soon after, and I couldn't help but watch the boy depart.

**What do you mean boy? He's a sexy beast.**

'And I'm actually supposed to be how old? His age doesn't attract me anymore.'

**But just imagine, if you mold him, he'd turn to be like the perfect guy.**

'Hah, mold Sasuke Uchiha, that's impossible.'

**Nothing's impossible.** IS's voice had a strange sense of truth to it. I was nearly scared of her at that moment.

Naruto spoke to me, breaking me out of my reverie. Askin me about 'the weird thing on Sasuke's neck'.

"Who know's?" I replied, watching as Shino and Zaku walked up to each other.

**Beat him to a pulp, Shino!** IS cheered.

'He's going to get his arms blown off anyways…' I noted, my mind drifting off to the past, or should I say future, that I had left behind. This instantly stirred up a fresh bout of hatred, but not for Sasuke, he was still at that moldable age, but for Orochimaru and the high councilors. Itachi had no blame, he was simply following orders, orders imposed upon him by Konoha. And he couldn't kill his younger brother, but instead asked him to live. This made me instantly hate the elders, who I had never liked from the beginning. I was too devoted to the Hokage to hate him, and I could touch upon their reasons. Before I knew it Zaku had already had his arms blown off.

'I missed it…' I noted almost sadly to myself. It's not that I enjoyed watching people arms getting blown off, but I was still angry at the boy. Besides, I was used to such gory things. Kakashi soon arrived back at us.

"How is he?" I asked Kakashi.

"He's resting in the hospital." he replied. He was glancing at the bandages wrapped around my arm curiously.

"A little cut I got when I was training." I brushed it all off. He looked at me doubtfully, but soon enough looked away. Then Kankuro's match started, I guess I have a grudge against all those from the sound, since I was secretly hoping Kankuro would go ahead and break his neck. Then that match was over, Naruto complained that it was two against one and me and Kakashi explained the idea of puppeteering. This only brought me back to Chiyo and her sad, heroic death. This put me reminiscing, and Kakashi had to tap me on the shoulder and point out the board, who would of guessed? It was me and Ino.

**Yeah! That's surprising.**

'Once again, sarcasm.'

**Hah! I was using that… thingy too!** IS rebuked.

'Hn.'

**Waugh! That's only cool if done by Sasuke.**

'I have to go battle remember?' I walked down the stairs.

**I say we win!**

'…Fine, but not by too much.' me and Ino approached each other. I took off my headband dramatically, mostly because it was fun, but a little to intimidate Ino. Naturally, I had given my ribbon back in the same way, acting out the play to perfection. Atleast, my belief that it was all a play at the time.

I started with the same move as last time, bunshins, then chakra to my feet and let go of it at the right time. I was careful though, it had become natural to just punch and not have to worry about adding the strength. I made sure she would only be sent back a few feet.

"You're going to have to try harder than that." I noted, smirking at the girl.

"Thanks for the advice, here I come." she smirked in reply, lightly touching her cheek. I let this continue on for the next five minutes, making many snide comments here and there, until she truly got serious (much faster than the last time through) and cut off her hair. Mostly, I just wanted to see that for my own satisfaction. And, due to the intensive training I had done from the end of our first-A-rank mission to now, my stamina had greatly improved and so I was barely winded. But that wasn't even close to my original stamina. She used the same tactics, and I allowed her to take over my body. I sat in silence a while, letting her hesitate for Naruto's yells. Then I spoke to her, in my own voice too.

'Man, that Naruto need to learn to shut his mouth, but he's right.' I noted in my head. I let IS take care of the rest, kicking Ino out of my head. It wasn't too hard. But it was enjoyable to watch, I must admit.

"Two minds…" Ino huffed. "What are you?"

"A woman must be tough, ne?" I asked, smirking as I huffed as well. I couldn't hear everyone's chittering in the background, but that wasn't important. I was focused on Ino right now.

**Let's finish this already!!!** IS yelled at me.

'Fine…' I smirked at the girl.

"Your technique is rather flimsy, isn't it?" I asked the blond before me.

"What are you talking about—"

"Sure shows a lot about your personality, right?" I smirked at her. I succeeded, she was thoroughly pissed off. She ran at me, and I simply dodged, which sent her sprawling. This left her unable to fight.

"Sakura Haruno is the winner of the fourth preliminary match!" the announcer called out. Naruto cheered excstatically in the stands, as did Lee. Everyone else merely stared, not sure what to make of it. And as I walked back up to the stands there was one thing I'm sure they didn't realize. I could kill them all, save one stupid saanin, should I have my original power in my hands, in one shot. I sighed as I watched the remaining matches. I turned to Ino, who was unconscious still, and my medical instincts kicked in. My hand glowed green as I placed it to her forehead, shortening her unconscious time. I'll admit, I was sad to miss out on the bonding time that appeared after I had woken up the first time, but I didn't care. When she woke up I merely smiled.

"Have I become a flower yet?" I asked, my eyes soft.

"…Perhaps." she noted. "And you only won because I was low on chakra!"

"Sure, sure." I replied, walking back to the balcony. This infuriated her, of course, and soon Tenten and Temari's match were done. Tenten, of course, unconscious. The funny thing is that later, they would become great, fast friends.

**But that is Naruto's effect on people…**

'Wow Is, you're being serious! Gasp!' I teased my inner.

**Then maybe you should listen.** she replied, pouting.

I ignored her and watched the last few battles. Continuing to ignore IS as she ranted about the different boys fighting. I knew it would all work out in the end, so I simply looked tot eh sky.

-

Not any sort of cliffhanger this chapter. And I truly am lazy, I was thinking about having Sakura fight someone else, but no… I hope you liked it. Sakura is trying to be sneaky(for a lack of a better word that I remember at the moment) with her powers again. Especially in front of all these people. Man I'm tired, its almost twelve where I live and Friday night, but I don't even get to sleep in that late, since my dad will be making scones tomorrow. Which are delicious, but it means I'll have to wake up a little earlier. Anyways, thank you for reading this far, and dealing with such a troublesome author. See you next time! (Hopefully!)

-ANBU Inu


	11. Prep Time

I was sitting in the ramen booth, absentmindedly swirling my chopsticks in my ramen while Naruto blabbered into my ear. The pre-lims had just ended, and I got to hear the speech made to the winners, something I didn't hear the last time around. It was mildly interesting, but still rather boring. I had gotten number 6, and Shino had instead been put up against Dosu.

**Good thing Dosu's going to be killed by Panda-kun… And must I remind you how hot Shino seriously is under those glasses?!?  
**

'If you would just shut up.' I growled as I set my chopsticks down, placed the right amount of money on the counter, and got off my seat.

"I'm going to go train…" I announced to Naruto.

"Well, can I eat the rest of your ramen?" Naruto asked, his eyes shining.

"Go ahead." I replied, walking off. This was another time that I was grateful that Naruto was so unobservant. I quickly changed directions, heading straight for the hospital. I needed to go check on Sasuke, and maybe proceed his healing along a little bit. As I arrived I walked up to the desk.

"Where is Sasuke Uchiha's room?" I asked.

"I'm sorry, but we're not supposed to let anyone up there." the nin replied.

"Oh, I'm sorry for troubling y—" Naruto burst through the doors about then. He ran up to the desk.

"Where's Sasuke's room!?"

"I just explained to this Miss here, no one's allowed to go see him."

"What the hell?" Naruto yelled. Then he looked at me, "Hi, Sakura-chan!"

"Hello." I replied in turn.

"Naruto, be quiet in a hospital." Kakashi appeared from around the corner. Naruto ran up to him and started asking (CoughshoutingCough) that he should train him. Kakashi replied and they spoke until Ebisu, AKA the closet pervert, showed up. I knew Naruto's overwhelming power over men with his Harem no jutsu technique. So I merely chuckled as he tried to explain why he was a closet pervert and was quickly shut up. Ebisu explained my team's chakra pattern, and I smirked a little as he explained my way, feeling a little proud, since I'd been able to do that since childhood. Soon enough they left together, leaving just me and Kakashi-sensei.

"So, did you arrange for someone to train me as well?" I asked. He stared at me for a moment before he replied.

"I was thinking about just training both you and Sasuke at the same time…" he noted, straying from my gaze.

"Well, if you want to, I could care less." I noted. He stared at me again, probably measuring my expression.

"Well, Sasuke should be better tomorrow, so we'll just meet at training ground number eight, you know where that is right?" He looked me in the eye.

"Of course, but I figured you'd probably unload me on someone else as well." I stuck my hands in my pockets.

"…I'll see you tomorrow, the meeting time is ten." he walked off, ending the conversation abruptly. I stared after him inquisitively, but then simply shrugged and walked home.

- Kakashi

Why is that little girl so… secretive. I've seen a few of her skills, but I know I haven't seen all of them. She was able to partially heal Naruto's wound and several other on the same mission, then there was the strange black chakra the occurred with Zabuza. And then it occurring again as she killed Gatou's men. And what did Ino mean about two minds? I want to see her skills first hand.

- Sakura NEXT DAY

I arrived at ten, mostly just because I wanted to meditate for a little while as I waited. As I arrived at the rocky training ground Sasuke was there.

"Good morning, Sasuke-kun." I smiled, keeping a pleasant demeanor up. Even though it was easier now than before now that I had stopped blaming him, and instead blaming those who were much closer to the real criminals.

"…Morning." he replied, then looking away.

"How's your curse mark doing?" I asked.

"…Fine… Yours?" he asked.

"It's…"

"Sakura has a curse mark, too?" Kakashi, being, surprisingly, not too late, just happened to show up at the worst time. He's always had sort of a gift for such a thing.

"It's nothing…" he quickly moved to my location, and began unwrapping my bandages. "Kakashi-sensei, honestly it's fine…"

"You call that fine?" he asked, monotone as normal. He gestured to the black curse mark on my arm.

"It's taken care of, it only bothers me when I am close to Orochimaru. It has a certain version of a seal holding it back." I noted, pulling my arm away.

"…Fine." he gave me one last look, then looked at both me and Sasuke. "We're going to be doing elemental training."

"Cool…" I muttered.

"Hn." Sasuke snorted.

"Wow, what an enthusiastic reply." Kakashi noted as he drew out the slips of paper from his pouch. He began to explain elemental chakra and the slips, then demonstrated, ((A/N: If you want to see the explanation it's in chapter 315)) but soon enough he gave us the slips one by one. First was Sasuke, his paper quickly crumbled.

"You're a lightning element…" Kakashi noted, "But naturally as an Uchiha you've learned how to use fire."

"Ah." Sasuke noted, handing the paper to Kakashi. I wasn't looking forward to the expression that would appear on Sasuke and Kakashi's faces as I took my paper. I knew how my chakra would react to the paper, triggering it all at once. I concentrated quite hard on only directing lightning chakra into it, and due to some sort of miracle my chakra could perform, it merely crumpled.

"…And Sakura is also a lightning element." Kakashi's eye was wide.

"Who would have guessed?" I asked, faking surprise.

"Well then, I figure we should get started on working… I want you both to learn how to use the Chidori." Kakashi announced.

"Hai." both me and Sasuke verbalized simultaneously. (A/N: Wow that's a big word!)

"And this is how…"

-

Ahaha. Wow, I am only on what, chapter ten and I have already written 58 pages in word? That is seriously amazing. (especially since this chapter is so short XD ((And I just realized that my version of short is 1,000 plus words. Haha!!))) And I realize that I'm not the best author in the world. That's rather obvious in fact, but I simply hope that you will stick by me until the end. I mean, you've made it this far haven't you? ;P And I always learn something new with every story I write. So, yeah! Anyways, thank you for reading and I can only hope you will review. But, see you next time. (Hopefully!)

-Inu!!!

P.S. Next time will be a time skip, they'll be starting the final matches. XP


	12. Chidori Time

Whoops! Typo, its only 48 pages in word. XD (52 now XP)

-

As I walked into the training grounds, Sasuke was already practicing on one of the logs. He was lightly panting.

"Ohayo, Sasuke." he turned to me then quickly turned away. And continued to practice. This pissed me off. So I ran at him and tackled him to the ground. He gasped.

"You could at least say 'Ohayo'." I noted staring into his eyes. He turned away blushing. It was only then that I noticed the rather awkward position we were in. I had him pinned to the ground. "Oh, is this turning you on, Sasuke-kun?" I asked, smirking at the lightly blushing boy. If my mind was still only twelve, this would have been so embarrassing, but being in the mindset of a twenty-year-old, this was absolutely nothing.

"Of course not." he replied stiffly.

"Hm…?" I continued to smirk at him.

"Sakura-chan, why is Sasuke pinned to the ground?" Kakashi-sensei walked into the clearing.

"Ohayo, sensei!~" I got off of the Uchiha prodigy. He stood up, brushing himself off.

"You didn't answer my question." he noted.

"Oh, well, he was being a bad boy and wouldn't say 'Ohayo' to me." I smiled.

"So, you pinned him to the ground."

"After tackling him." I clarified. He just stared at me. Then he rolled his eyes. "Don't make me tackle you too." I could feel the evil gleam in my eyes. He almost flinched, but ignored me, and continued on.

"Today, I will begin teaching you two how to use the Chidori." he noted.

"Sensei, isn't that the technique you attempted to use on Zabuza?" I asked.

"…Hai." he nodded. "It is a very advanced move, but I believe you two can manage." He then demonstrate it to us, having explained the concept to us the previous day, and after he had me and Sasuke spar. (Which I won, of course.) It was then our turn.

'Be careful!' I reminded myself. 'Don't do it too fast.' It was hard to limit my skills in this area, since Kakashi-sensei had taught me this move soon after my sixteenth birthday. So I screwed that idea. First, I made it for a second, then let it sputter out. Both Sasuke and Kakashi regarded me with wide eyes.

"Almost…" I muttered, a clever act put on for the two. I did it two more times this way, the two simply staring, aghast. Then I allowed it to stay, screeching as it always did. I ran and hit the rocks, piercing somewhat through them. Then I let it burn out. I was left panting, so I leaned against the rock. My chakra was so much lower than my original amount. I knew this was natural, but it was still infuriating.

"Sakura…" Kakashi was completely surprised. "How…"

"I'm good at chakra control, right?" I noted, smirking, though I was still panting.

"I guess…" he turned to Sasuke once more. Then glanced back to say, "Come back in an hour, and I'll have you and Sasuke spar." I nodded, then slowly walked off, I could still Sasuke's eyes on me, but simply mentally brushed it off as I walked out of sight.

-

The hour was up, I had gone to the Hokage's office and reported, also showing him my curse mark. This seriously surprised him, but I had told him that it wasn't bothering me, and fortunately he let it drop. I then returned swiftly to my teammate and sensei. What I saw looked rather kinky. My teammate breathing heavily on the ground, and my sensei standing over him with a twinkle in his eye.

"Don't let me disturb you two…" I smirked as I pretended to back away.

"Sakura, what the crap are you talking about?" Sasuke asked.

"Wow, Sasuke spoke an entire sentence." I faked surprise.

"…Not funny." he noted as he sat up. I stared at him for a second, then turned to my sensei.

"I think we should postpone sparring." I noted. "Sasuke looks a little tired."

"Hm…?" Kakashi replied.

"I'm fine." Sasuke noted irritably. "Let's spar."

"…You really shouldn't strain yourself like that." I noted, surveying him, checking him over for wounds.

"And you shouldn't check me out." he noted in reply.

"Why would I check out a little boy like you?" I asked, flashing Sasuke my most dazzling smile.

"Wha…?"

"I'm training to be a medic you dope." I interrupted. "And it looks like you got a little wound on your cheek…" I walked up to the Uchiha. I examined his cheek, then my hand lit up with green chakra, and I placed it to his cheek. It seemed unusually warm, but I ignored that, since blood was pooling around the wound.

- Sasuke

What is up with Sakura, she never used to be this… Bold. Why is she walking up to me? Whoa, her face is _**way**_ too close to mine. Did she put on lip gloss, or is that natura—Wait, what the crap am I thinking? Why are my cheeks so hot? And why, in all of Konoha, am I so conscious of Sakura?

- Kakashi

Heh, looks like the Uchiha kid has a little crush, I'd like to see some ecchi stuff going on though, just like Icha Icha. Oh wait, I'm supposed to have these two spar. Looks like Sakura-chan is almost done healing his scar, so its about time we get started.

- Sakura

Sasuke's scar was now gone, and we walked away from each other, then sensei explained that we would be practicing taijutsu, which I'm rather good at, then he signaled to begin…

-

That was a good sparring match, and I'll admit, Sasuke is very good. Not that he can compare to me quite yet. I naturally beat him, but only by a little, after deciding in my mind to not reveal too much. When we were finished, we all went our separate ways, even though Kakashi-sensei for some reason kept pestering Sasuke about walking me home. And when he refused, I refused as well, then quickly made my leave. As I walked home, I stopped by the clothing store to pick out some new duds. I chose a navy blue Chinese-looking dress, long black plants to go beneath it, and some navy blue gloves with the Konoha symbol engraved on the back. I quickly paid for my purchases, then left for home. When I arrived there I hurried to my room and applied a white circle, my normal mark, onto the front and back. I smiled at my handiwork, then went outside to train.

-

"_Good job, Sakura!" Tsunade-sama called out. My breath was heavy, but a bright smile graced my features._

"_Arigato, shishou!" I called in reply. Her smile became wider, her face began peeling off. I screamed. Yellow eyes peered out at me._

"_Saaakuuurraaa-ccchhhaaannnn…" Orochimaru crooned. He shot his head out at me, and he bit me._

-

I Screamed in my bed as I immediately woke up. My breathing was heavy as my mother ran into my room.

"Sakura!" her breathing was heavy too. "Are you okay?" She took a seat on the edge of my bed. I glanced at the clock. I t was only three in the morning.

"It was just a bad dream, mom." I noted, brushing her off. "Go to sleep."

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"Yes."

"…Fine…" she slowly got up and walked to the door, shooting careful glances at me. And when I smiled assuringly, she gave me one last look, then shut the door with a click. "What a foreboding dream…" I whispered to myself, running a hand through my hair. I clicked on the light and attempted fall back asleep.

-

'The tournament is today.' I thought to myself as I glanced into the mirror. And since, in all aspects of the word, a performance, I did my hair a little different then normal. Mostly I just put it in a bun, then stuck in a pink cherry blossom hairpin. Then I put on my new outfit. Went downstairs, grabbed a bite to eat, said good bye to my parents, then set off.

-

Heehee, some SasuSaku development. Maybe I should just have her see Itachi out of random. Lest I get killed. We'll see, and of course, next chapter the tournament will begin. Oh, and must I remind you of how much I love you? All of you guys just make me so happy! I mean, this story has beaten all previous records (for my stories) of reviews, favorites, and alerts. With 42 reviews (so far), 24 favs, and 28 alerts! This makes a writer as mediocre as me so happy! And my thoughts on longness are really weird, cause to me, this chapter seems quite short. (:D) Anyways, see you next chapter! (I can always dream, right ;P)

-Inu

P.S. Merry Christmas/Happy Hanukkah/Happy Kwanzaa/whatever!


	13. Conflict

I held back a yawn as people ogled at us from the stands. I put on my best most confident smile. Sasuke wasn't here yet, I'm sure he and Kakashi-sensei are working out the kinks in his techniques. Or maybe they're just clothes shopping.

**Ahahahha!** IS laughed.

'What?'

**That just made me think of the funniest situation, like, what if Sasuke and Kakashi really are gay.**

'I'll admit, Sasuke has rather good fashion sense for a guy, and I've never seen either of them flirting with girls… then again, Kakashi aims straight for the bed.' inwardly I smirked, thinking of the tales I had heard, very… Perverted… And detailed tales from my silver-haired sensei. A wave of pain hit me; I knew Orochimaru was up there in the stands already, and both me and the Hokage knew he was disguised as the Kazekage. I also noticed the fact that the guard around the Hokage was increased greatly, but inconspicuously. The dude in front of us spoke up, saying something I had known from the beginning, and soon enough the Hokage stood up and announced the beginning of the chuunin exam. The examiner showed the changes, Shino was simply put out to wait until Temari and Shikamaru fight to get his turn, should he get his turn.

**Shino always seems to miss the good parts of everything.** IS noted as the examiner gave his last words before we were sent off to the waiting room. Soon enough, Naruto and Neji's fight began, it proceeded as normal. I trained my eyes on it naturally. But inside my head, my thoughts were roaming. The time spent waiting for Sasuke, and the suspension of his match passed by in the same way. Then, of course, Kankuro forfeited, I had guessed that he would most likely do that anyways, but still I was a little put down, it would have been fun to fight for a crowd, and now there wasn't any chance of getting bumped up a little closer to my original status. I sighed, but got over it as Temari and Shikamaru's match began. It has always been fun to see those two fight, which they had done quite a bit over the years. They had dated for a while, but then Ino _finally_ realized she was desperately in love with Shikamaru, and he left Temari for her. But, Temari was fine, she married a really hot guy from the sand named Youza Nourichi.

And, as much as I enjoyed their battle, much too soon, it was over, and Sasuke's battle was set to begin. I watched as he and Kakashi made their flashy entrance, leafs blowing all around and all.

**Da-yum**. IS remarked. **There's no way a straight guy could dress that hot.**

'He needs a haircut…' I noted dryly.

**No, right now he's at that, long, and almost needs a hair-cut stage.**

'IS, his hair is longer than mine was the last time we went through this.'

**It just means he was training too much too get his hair cut.**

'But apparently, he had enough time to go buy those rather… Interesting clothes.'

**Which he looks hot in.**

'Even Naruto would look hot if he was wearing those.'

**Whatever.** Our conversation mercifully stopped there. And Gaara began his descent down. My stomach tossed as I heard the sounds of gore occurring down the stairs, and I would have gone to see if I could heal whoever it was if I didn't know this Gaara didn't leave survivors. A couple minutes later, Shikamaru and Naruto appeared. And they looked a little green as well, a sign that they had seen at least the signs of Gaara's killings, if not the deed. Naturally, I hadn't known that either of these things would happen from the stands, but then again, there was always a lot of dirty work surrounding the Chuunin exams. Soon enough, the round began and Gaara, of course, began his psycho rantings, but this time I could actually hear what he was saying. I watched Sasuke's increased speed in action, I was roughly around the same speed, having endured the same training from Kakashi, but Sasuke, as always, was faster. I blamed my immature body, but he always had been. Always ahead of me.

This made me think back upon when we fought on the rooftop when he invaded Konoha, was it simply surprise that threw him off? I couldn't tell. Maybe he still was had ties to me even then… nah. But… I quickly dropped that thought, shaking my head as I turned my attention back to the match. I watched Sasuke's copied Taijutsu. I'll admit, it was a bit of a challenge learning Lee's taijutsu along with Sasuke, but I managed. It might have helped that I had previously, and briefly, trained with Lee and Gai-sensei, so I got the general jest of it, but the speed was the hardest thing for me to keep up with. I watched as Gaara began his shell, as it was sealing up, I heard as Naruto and Shikamaru went up the stairs to talk to Kakashi-sensei, I swiftly got up and followed them. Listening as they all spoke, I wasn't amazingly concerned, and I knew that Sasuke was about to use the Chidori as Kakashi gave me a knowing look.

"The reason I trained Sasuke was because he was the same type as me." Kakashi noted, watching Sasuke intently. This made me curious, why did he train me then? Then again, Kakashi didn't know Sasuke was a lightning-type until he began training him, unless he had his suspicions. This still made me wonder. I watched as Sasuke's skin came off, the reason Kakashi-sensei had made us train in taijutsu. I had experienced that feeling often before I began to train with Kakashi, seeing as I had tried out the move before, and had watched, as well as felt, as my skin burnt off. It was excruciating. But I had trained up my skin previously to the training, so it wasn't as bad. I watched as Sasuke sped towards Gaara, ignoring the explanation of the Chidori that was flowing around me. I watched as he pierced Gaara's cocoon.

'Run away.' I whispered in my head repeatedly as Gaara emerged, looking roughly the same as normal, with blood running down his body. Soon, feathers began to fall, I quickly whispered Kai as I performed the proper handsign. Then it began, it was a good thing most people were out of it, thinking of the confusion that would have occurred. And, despite prior precautions, the Hokage was still taken by Orochimaru, just not quite as easily. Soon, the sound nins came at us, and fortunately, this time I wasn't a burden. I stabbed, slashed, and injured sound nins just as the other two did. But soon I simply sat down and watched as they finished up. I had only worked on those around the edges after all, not wanting to interfere with their teamwork. Kakashi sensei explained the mission once again, and I swiftly rushed over to Naruto (in a crouched state to go fairly undetected), interrupting his chakra flow to cut off the genjutsu, then I went over to Shikamaru.

"Get up you lazy ass." I noted as Pakkun joined us, the fourth member of our team. Pakkun swiftly bit him. The sound nin appeared behind Naruto, and was swiftly taken care of by Gai. Kakashi explained our mission once more, and we took off, me grabbing Naruto on the way. We moved as quickly as possible, Pakkun giving little updates as we went along. I could feel everyone's chakra almost as well as Pakkun could smell them out. Everyone conversed around me and I couldn't help but to feel offended when Shikamaru called me a Kunoichi with no special ability. But, the seriousness of the situation was enough to make me not beat him to a pulp. Soon, he announced his plan, then stopped, allowing us to go on. We still moved along, Pakkun informing us when the pursuers stopped, and up ahead of us, I sensed they had stopped, I was really worried, since there had been a switch up, that Shino wouldn't appear to kick Kankuro's butt. But, to my fortune, Shino still appeared to fight Kankuro. He probably felt short-changed again. I continued on at a steady pace. My senses were unusually acute, not the best, then again not all of us are Hyuugas. In fact, I could almost tell where Kankuro's chakra strings were. Almost.

It was only then that I noticed another chakra. It was faint, for it was perfectly masked, but my acute senses noticed it. I quickly made a invisible bunshin of myself, and had her moving beside us, then in a split second, we switched places, her turning visible, and me becoming transparent. She moved along with them, while I moved as silently as possible towards the chakra signature. It was unfamiliar, but also reminded me of someones signature… Then I realized it was strangely similar to Sasuke's. This made my heart strangely beat faster. I realized who the only person whose chakra could even have any similarity to Sasuke's… Itachi Uchiha. As I neared closer I could barely make out his form, jumping through the trees. He looked so… Small, almost fragile as he was dwarfed by the trees he was jumping through. This seemed strange to me, for I knew, since he was older, that he was taller and larger than me. I continued in the trees, moving parallel to him. He seemed to be moving towards Sasuke, the same as us. Then it hit me, he must have come to watch his little brother fight in the chuunin exams. This would have seemed… well… strange to me, were it not for the fact that I knew the true reason why he did the things he did.

Suddenly, his gaze turned to me.

'Crap!' I yelled in my head as he began to move towards me. I held still, knowing that, in this body in particular, he would most likely killed me if I tried to run.

**He'll probably kill you anyways.** IS noted. **'Cause you did see him after all…**

'Why do you always get serious when I'm about to die?!?' I screamed mentally. The next second, I was pinned up against a tree, a kunai to my throat. 'Why hasn't he killed me yet?' He was glaring at me and pressing the kunai harder into my neck.

"Why have you been following me?" he asked seriously.

For some reason self-conscious about the distance he was from me. 'Fake innocence!' I yelled at myself. "What are you talking about?" I asked, he thrust the kunai a little deeper, causing beads of blood to form.

**Gah! He's so hot! You should kiss him!** IS called at me.

'He's going to kill us you freaking 'tard!' I replied. For some reason taking note of the distance we were, if I just reached a little farther our lips would… Gah! Stop that stupid mind. "Well, since chances are, you're going to kill me, my name is Sakura Haruno, I'm your little brother's teammate. And most likely, you came to watch him. Oh, and right now, he is probably close to being killed by the Shukaku." I watched as his eyes widened only slightly. A clear sign of surprise at my strange information. "And if you'd excuse me, I have to go help him." I noted with a straight face. And, for some reason, he let me go. I hurried away as quickly as possible towards where Sasuke was, which in my case, was really fast, faster than my teammates were moving, so I caught up and discreetly destroyed my clone and rejoined Pakkun and Naruto. Soon after that, I felt Kisame's chakra join up with his partner's.

- Itachi

Why didn't that girl even flinch when I came at her? No running, no begging for mercy. Simply taking me on head on, even without fear. Sasuke has strong teammates.

- Sakura

I could feel the fighting between Sasuke and Gaara ahead, they had obviously been fighting for a while. Since he was using Chidori. And that wasn't a move to be taken lightly. We were getting closer. They continued to fight, and my curse seal received the message before my brain did. He had tried for a third Chidori, and consequently activated his curse seal, again. We arrived right then, just as Sasuke was going to be killed, and Naruto once again made his dramatic entrance. I naturally hurried to Sasuke's side to employ my medical skills. He was once again immobile. I began to heal him, despite the fact that I knew I couldn't stop the effects, mostly I just numbed the pain. Subconsciously numbing the pain radiating from my own curse mark that resonated with his.

"Sa-sakura-chan. Sakura-chan!" Naruto muttered.

"What?!?" I yelled over my shoulder.

"Who's the hell that?" he pointed to Gaara, despite the fact this had happened before, it entirely pissed me off. But I bit my tongue as Pakkun shortly explained, and I continued working on Sasuke. When Gaara came at us, I knew I would need my chakra, so I allowed myself to be pinned to the tree again. This time, knowing that most likely I could break out of it with my Herculean strength, should worst come to worst. The only difference was my expression, as he headed at me, I smiled, despite my defensive position, this very nearly threw him off balance. But he had already sent out his arm at me. He hesitated. Then, when I acted like I had fainted, he moved on. I listened to their conversation, IS forming a back-up plan just in case. I squinted to not reveal I was awake and watched their conversation. This meant there was probably going to be about another hour, atleast. Gaara's grip around me became tighter, I clenched my teeth together, but judging by Naruto's expression, the pain was probably rather evident. I watched as Gaara unattached that part of his hand to leave me pinned.

'Now that I think about it, it might have been better to make a clone…'

**Nah, it would have just been poofed away when Gaara squeezes us.**

'True…' it was starting to feel quite uncomfortable in Gaara's grip.

**Could I please take over? Just a little bit?**

'No. We'll only intercept them if they really get into trouble, 'cause this experience is what made the Panda-kun we both know and love.'

**Bwaha!**

'What?'

**That was supposed to be such a serious thought, but it wasn't due to the whole Panda-kun thing.**

'Shut up.' I turned my attention to the battle in front of me. Gaara was half-way transformed as he threw sand shuriken at Naruto.

**Atleast it's not metal sand, like the second Kazekage could use.**

'Yeah, that was a pain to deal with, and it plain wouldn't have worked, since I'm in my current state.' Naruto was really getting pummeled now. I desperately wanted to help him, but what would happen should I interfere. Most likely nothing good, so I held myself back. Then I noticed something, the sand wasn't particularly trying to suffocate me this time around. In fact, even as it tightened around me, it was strangely almost, loose. And it had molded to me, so I didn't feel too uncomfortable. Then my mind snapped back to the fight in front of me. I had missed this battle the first time around. I watched in wonder as Naruto used his immense chakra to make many clones. Then I watched placidly through my lashes as he attempted to use '1000 years of pain' on Gaara. It took a lot in me to not go and punch him, atleast until… BOOM! The kunai exploded. This surprised me, especially as a couple of the pieces scratched my face. Sasuke caught Naruto, despite his weaked state. He was speaking, I sent chakra to my ears to heighten my hearing. And what I heard slightly shocked me.

"…I know you can save her." Sasuke noted, crouched down.

'Is he talking about me?' I wondered silently, as I fueled my ears with more chakra.

"Once you've got her…Carry her, and run… as far… and as fast… that you can…" Sasuke muttered between breaths.

"Sasuke." Naruto noted.

"If it's just for a while, I'll be able to hold him in place." Sasuke was rising to his feet. I could see how much of a toll this took on his body.

"You…" Naruto began.

"Never again…" Sasuke was on his feet now. "I already lost everything once before… I don't ever want to watch those dear to me die ever again." My thoughts took me back, to all the times he had protected me. When he had supported me, though in his own way. I zeroed in on Naruto's speech, but my thoughts remained on Sasuke. But soon enough my attention returned to the fight as Naruto began to gather his chakra.

**Here comes Kyuubi!!! **IS shouted.

'Where've you been?' I asked her.

**Hanging around.**

'Whatever.' I fixed my mind upon the battle, there were now hundreds, if not thousands of Naruto's surrounding me.

**A scary thought.** IS noted.

'Shut up.' I watched in awe as Naruto pounded upon Gaara. Then I watched in more awe as Gaara became the full-sized Shukaku. I had never seen him in that state before. I guess I had never realized it was so… Big. Then out came the Boss Toad. He wasn't anything new. I had seen him many times before. And I had been able to summon Katsuya. Tsunade allowing me to sign a summoning contract with the slugs. I stopped sending chakra to my ears. I would need it later. But I simply watched and it was astounding. I could faintly see, after they had battled shortly, the sword of the Boss landing not too far away from me, that a small dot had appeared on the Shukaku.

Attempting to keep her mind on the battle before her, despite numerous thoughts moving through her head due to the previous encounter with Itachi, watching, and somewhat hearing as Shukaku emerged. I watched in awe as a monstrous gust of wind flew out of the Shukaku's mouth. Then as the boss frog spewed cannonballs out of his mouth. Then my eyes flew even wider as the frog changed into the nine-tails.

**It's a henge.** IS noted, admiring the colossal figure.

'Oh, just stunned there for a sec.' I noted sheepishly. As the 'frog' grabbed the Shukaku. Then I watched as a speck moved and hit the other speck, which I could only conclude was Naruto hitting Gaara. Then a whole new range of battle began, as I watched the Boss frog's tongue encircle Naruto. Then, soon after, I felt his chakra flare.

**Crap! Hide and run Sakura!** IS began to cry frantically.

'He can't even go past the first tail at this point, IS.' I noted, watching the battle through my lashes, though that didn't do much good. So I had to simply assume what was going on between the two. But soon, the Shukaku crumbled, and the sand released me. The next thing that happened was Sasuke caught me. Before I could even straighten my mind out to fix the problem myself.

"Take care of Sakura." he muttered to Pakkun before taking off.

"Hey…" Pakkun called. He nosed me, though my attention was on the exchange farther away. And I pretended that this aroused me. I blinked several times, then turned slowly to the ninja dog. "You're awake."

"Hai…" I slowly moved, as though just waking up. I stretched. Then turned to the exchange before me, concentrating on it. From the looks of it, Temari and Kankuro had just shown up to take care of their little brother. Then they left with him. I allowed myself to drop to the ground.

"Hey!" Pakkun called after me, this alerted Sasuke who glanced up. And is it just me, or is that relief on his face? I ignored that and hurried to Naruto. I began to heal the many wounds on his body. Then soon we returned home. And the first thing that I learned was that the Hokage was dead.

-

Holy cow! That took a long _long_ time to write. I'm sorry I'm so slow, its just, that in order to write this in a somewhat acceptable way, I have to be in the right mood. And I do realize that Sakura still hasn't gotten any fight scenes. I'm sorry, I'll try to fit one in soon, but the truth is, I simply suck at them. ;P So, please don't kill me. Review if you see fit. And hopefully I'll see you next chapter. ;D

-ANBU Inu


	14. Dango & Death

The black clothes reminded me of my mistake. I hadn't been able to stop anything. For all I know, I haven't changed a thing. I silently gave my final farewell to the Hokage. I ignored everything around me, concentrating on the casket before me. All too soon, it was time to say a final goodbye. Tears slid down my cheeks as I joined up with my team. I reminded myself of that one thing I had never been good at, hiding my emotions, and wiped away my tears. As a smiling Naruto joined us, I once again reminded myself at how strong he was.

-

The next few days I spent training desperately, stopping only for meals and sleep, and always remembering to leave chakra left to heal my bloody wounds before heading inside. So when my sensei invited me to go with him and Sasuke to go get some sweets I was surprised, and I'll admit, a little relieved to finally have a break. So when I showed up a little early, due to my unusual craving for dango and saw no one other than Itachi and Kisame sitting eating dango, I was rather surprised. They were incognito, for this time at least, with their large hats and dark cloaks. Kakashi showed up unusually early as well. I noticed that he found the two men unusual as well. And when Kurenai and Asuma showed up together, I reflected back on Kurenai's son. He was a vibrant young child, and was strong like his father. His father was reflected in his own countenance.

"Hey, you two look good together. Are you two dating?" Kakashi asked, his eyes half-lidded. Though I could sense a playful teasing in his voice.

Kurenai blushed, "What are you doing here? I thought you didn't like sweets."

Asuma smirked, "What are you doing here? Picking some sweets, too?"

"Nah, we're…" Asuma and Kurenai noticed me somewhat hidden by Kakashi, "…here to pick up a few things and meet someone here too. We're waiting for Sasuke." I could almost sense Itachi almost twitch at the mention of his brother's name.

"It's very different of you to arrive first, Kakashi." Itachi placed his cup down, the casual move revealing much to someone like me. I couldn't help but feel compassionate towards the man. He had gone through so much, and was still protecting his brother from the shadows. Soon after Sasuke arrived, and with his arrival, Itachi and Kisame quickly fled.

"It's very different of you to arrive first, Kakashi." Sasuke noted, addressing the man beside me.

"This only happens occasionally." Kakashi replied smoothly. And, either Sasuke didn't notice me, or he was ignoring me so I got pissed.

"Sasuke-_kyun_." I crooned sarcastically. He turned to me with wide eyes at the suffix. "I can't believe you didn't notice _me_." He backed away, almost imperceptibly.

"Hello." he muttered quickly, then turned back to Kakashi. "I hate sweets." Sasuke noted, his face wrinkling up with disgust.

"Do you?" Kakashi asked, glancing at Kurenai and Asuma who promptly departed.

"Well, I love them." I noted as we entered. Kakashi led us to a table, then pretended to glance at a watch.

"Well guys, I have something to do. So just put anything you order on my tab, okay? Bye." he swiftly poofed away.

"That Kakashi…" Sasuke muttered, shaking his head irritably. A waitress came up to our table. She was perky, probably in her early twenties, and her eyes were locked on Sasuke. I could almost see the thoughts running across her face. 'He's too young; I would be a pedophile; why is he so dreamy??' And then with a glance I noticed something else. Something close to 'But he's on a date…' I rolled my eyes at the waitress. I glanced at the menus she handed to us.

"I'll take some dango, and some rose tea, please." I handed the menu back to her.

"How about you?" she asked the boy across from me. Her mind playing out on her face once again.

"…Some green tea please…" Sasuke noted, handing back his menu as well.

"You know you don't have to force yourself to be here, if you don't like it, feel free to go." I noted as the waitress arrived with our order.

"…I'm fine." Sasuke noted bluntly, taking a sip of his tea.

"Okay…" I replied, picking up my own tea. I smiled as the warm tea flooded my mouth, it was my favorite flavor.

**You know… If you think about it, it's like your on a date with Sasuke.**

'Oh yeah, Sakura and Sasuke, the big item.' I replied sarcastically.

**Isn't that why the waitress glared at you.**

'No.' I turned my attention to Sasuke as he drank his tea. He was quiet, so I decided to be quiet. I took a bite of my dango, pretending to be unaware of Sasuke's eyes on me.

- Sasuke

**Kyaa! OMG! We are so like totally like on a date with Sakura!!!**

'Who the hell are you?' I asked the voice in my head.

**The like **_**real**_** Sasuke, obviously.**

'If you're "real" then why are you in my head.'

**Well…**

'I'm hearing voices in my head, an obvious sign of being insane…' I noted to myself as I carefully watched the girl in front of me. She took a bite of her dango, and my cheeks flushed a little warmer. I retained my cool though… Why does Sakura look so cu… Stop that train of thought right there Sasuke, stop that train of thought.

- Sakura

'You know, I kind of wish I could go fight Itachi and Kisame with the Senseis…' I noted to IS.

**Then why don't you?**

'Well, it would be rude to take off, now wouldn't it?'

**That's only if you're on a **_**date**_**. **IS replied teasingly.

'I'm am not on a date with Sasuke Uchiha.' I reminded her.

**You wish you were.** she noted, smirking at me.

'Ugh! You're so irritating!' I quickly shut her out of my mind. I took a look at the boy before me. He is handsome, I'll admit that, but he's also power-hungry, an avenger, and doesn't even know why his brother did the things he did.'

"So Sasuke, in a metaphorical sense, what would you do should Itachi actually have been the good guy?" I asked the boy across from, as I took a sip of tea.

'Oh crap, tell me I did not just say what I think I said.' I ranted in my head.

**You did.**

"Why would you even ask such a thing?" he asked, glaring holes into my head.

"Just wondering…" I noted, in a sad attempt to cover it up. I took another bite of my dango. I couldn't help but fidget under Sasuke's stare. I mean, the Uchiha's have a very direct hard stare. Especially under situations like this. "So Sasuke, while we're waiting for Kakashi…-sensei anyways, you want to go train?" I asked the boy before me, taking a sip of my tea.

"…No…" he noted, watching me closely.

"Well, that's a first." I noted, as I ate the last piece of my dango. "I have to go pick up some things for my mom, but if you want to tag along…" I let my sentence hang for a second as I got out of my seat.

"Hn…" he grunted as he stood up as well. We walked side by side as I stopped at various places, picking up eggs, milk, and other various items, and utilizing Sasuke to the fullest by having him carry some of it. Finally I was at my last stop, Ino's family store. My mother wanted me to pick up some daffodils to place on my grandfather's grave. As I walked in I heard a scream, then a crash. I turned towards the noise, there was Ino, on the ground, shaking, pointing at me and Sasuke with and aghast expression on her face.

"F-forehead…" she noted, "That's not Sasuke-kun is it?" She had a smudge of dirt on her face, and now all over her clothes seeing as she had dropped a pot when she saw us.

"That's an odd question to ask, and its rude to point, Ino-pig." I noted casually, moving to examine the daffodils they had in stock.

"Kyaa!!!" she ran out, and due to her vaguely transparent nature, it was easy to guess that she probably went to go clean-up herself. I gave greeting to Ino's mother, selected some daffodils, paid for them, then left the store. Sasuke trailed behind like a lost puppy… I giggled, while IS laughed rollickingly in my head. Sasuke, a puppy, the comparison was too strange. Before I knew it, the silent journey was over. I walked up to the door and opened it, then, remembering the faithful 'puppy' behind me turned around, "Sasuke, I can take those from here, unless you want to come in." He stared at me, not moving. "I guess that works." I made a motion for him to follow me and we both entered my house. "Okay, please place the bags on the table," I noted as I placed the daffodils in a vase. "I'll put them away, would you like some tea?"

"…I'm fine." he noted.

"Well, then there's not much left to do then… my parents are out, and I'm just going to go train, if you want to tag along…" He shrugged, I smirked at him. Wondering what was going on in that little head of his.

-That little head of Sasuke's

Why do I keep following her? There were many opportune moments to excuse myself, and yet I'm still here. Hmm… Maybe training will help me get my mind off it, and get me tired enough to leave.

-Sakura

As me and Sasuke sparred, the sun decided to set. I noticed this as I caught a kick to my head, "Sasuke, I believe you should be getting home, little doobie((my official new favorite word, my choir teacher uses it, and as creepy as he may act some times, he is downright amusing. XD))."

"Doobie?" he piped up.

"Never mind." I noted shaking my head. "But anyways, let me see you to the door."

"Hai…" he made a beeline for the door, then for some reason stood there for a second, almost expectantly. I chuckled to myself, then said my farewells. He stared at me for a second, then returned the farewells. And naturally, it would be no fun if I didn't embarrass the boy so I called out,

"Now don't get raped or molested on the way back like last week!"

This naturally enough caused him to pivot on his heel and give me a pointed glare. This only served to amuse me. So naturally I put on a smirk, and he went off into the night. I then went straight back out and continued to train.

-

Wow, this is long overdue. XD I'm sorry my little doobies. :D But yeah, just a little filler I guess. But (hopefully) I'll be getting on with it soon. Well, adieu!

-ANBU Inu


	15. The Departure & Return

Hikari no Kanata

-

Naruto left to go find Tsunade yesterday, and I knew that they would be meeting up with Itachi. In addition, Sasuke somehow knew about said encounter, so I was deathly bored. So I decided that I might as well volunteer at the hospital, but after that didn't work out, I wandered around Konoha. Normally, one didn't think about how much fun Naruto is to have in your life, at least until he's gone. So naturally, I decided to go and ask for a mission. As I strolled through the streets I noticed Ino with her crew in tow. I stared at her until she noticed me.

"What are you looking at, forehead?" she asked, scrutinizing me.

"…Are you getting even fatter, Ino-pig?" I asked as a teasing smirk spread across my lips.

"WHAT WAS THAT!?!?!" she yelled, getting extremely pissed. But fortunately, Shikamaru was there to hold her back.

"So what are you up to?" I asked sidling up to Chouji as Ino raged on.

"Oh, we were about to go see about a mission." He noted between mouthfuls of chips.

"Same here, mind if I join you?" I asked.

"NO WAY!" Ino yelled.

"Sure." Chouji smiled, "We're not going to get anything too important anyways."

"Alrighty." I smiled as Ino continued to rage.

We walked in somewhat silence, with Ino raging of course, until we reached the room. Protocol continued as normal as Iruka assigned us a few D-rank missions to take care of through the day.

"Rather odd that you're without your teammates, eh Sakura?" Iruka noted as we were about to leave.

"Yeah, I guess so." I shrugged.

"Know where Naruto went? Haven't seen him all day."

"I think he took off with Jiraiya to do something." I noted as I followed after the others. The missions were extremely simple, catch Tora the cat, again, weed a huge garden, help take care of some animals, and escort an elderly woman to her family on the other side of the city. But, it took up time and was better than nothing, so I didn't mind it. And by the time I was done, Sasuke was in the hospital, again. The boy sure was fragile sometimes. I went to go visit the unconscious boy, bringing both him and Lee daffodils. Time passed and Tsunade arrived, returning with Naruto and Jiraiya. I waited by Sasuke in the hospital again, just to make sure I saw her. When she arrived, I acted out the scene, even hugging Sasuke, because, though I wasn't worried, I knew this was something important that had to take place. Then the Hokage tapped me on the shoulder right after I let go.

"Your Sakura Haruno, correct?" she asked.

"Yes…?" I noted, giving her a strange look.

"Please come into the hall with me." I did as she said, leaving Sasuke, and she shut the door. "Your sensei has been unable to contact you, and I heard you'd be here."

"And…?"

"You've been promoted to a chuunin, and I need you to attend to getting said promotion official, so if you could please report to the Hokage tower immediately and it'll be taken care of."

My eyes widened. My heart began to thump much faster, and a broad grin broke out onto my face, it was all I could do to keep from jumping for joy.

"You certainly are a special circumstance…" she noted as I was about to leave. "The Hokage left a letter before the chuunin exams stating that should he die, you were to be promoted even if you didn't fight."

"O-oh really?" I asked.

"Yes." She noted, surveying my with curious eyes.

My heart was about to jump out of my throat. "May I go now?" I asked, nearly bouncing with excitement.

"Yes," she chuckled, "You may."

-

Who would have guessed that this time around I would become a chuunin, the same as Shikamaru? It seriously surprises me. I skipped the entire way home, I couldn't help it. But then, Naruto noticed me from the ramen booth. He latched onto me mid-skip, I would have avoided but then he would have run into the person walking past.

"How did Sakura-chan become a chuunin?!?"

"Umm…" I created a somewhat normal answer, "…Hard work."

"You mean I just have to work harder too?" he asked.

"Umm… Yes, if you work really hard one day you will become a chuunin." I noted, unlatching him from my arm. "Now, if you'll please excuse me, I need to tell my parents."

"Oh, okay." He noted as I hurried off.

- Next day

I returned to Sasuke's room, as a present I had brought some cherry tomatoes, knowing that those were his absolute favorite.

"Ohayo, Sasuke-san." I noted with a smile as I entered his room. He turned to look at me with a glare, then looked back at his sheets with what looked to be a pout. "I brought you some cherry tomatoes, since I know they're your favorite!" I placed the said tomatoes on the stand by his bed. "So are you feeling better today?"

"I heard you became a chuunin." He noted bluntly, continuing to stare at his sheets.

"You never were one to mince words." I noted with a sigh. "But yes, I did become one."

"How?" he asked, fixing me with a glare.

"I guess I simply proved myself to the Hokage before the chuunin exams." I opened his small container of cherry tomatoes and popped one into my mouth. I knew he wouldn't dare show off his 'unmanly side' to eat the tomatoes 'til I was gone.

"…Hn…" he went back to looking at his covers.

"Oh, and I'd advise you not to even think about fighting Naruto today or else I might push your face into the ground." I noted with a smile. He stared at me with his eyes a little wider. "Yes, he has gotten stronger but then again so have you, and no progress can be truly measured to its full potential when its compared to anothers."

"…"

- Sasuke's POV

I couldn't believe that Sakura could somehow almost read my mind. It was a strange experience. But, then again, it wasn't only Naruto I wanted to fight, but her as well. It has always seemed like she has been holding back. I watch as she pops another one of the cherry tomatoes she brought for me into her mouth. For a second my mind trails off as I watch her lips move… Then I gain control of myself.

'No wonder I don't have enough hatred, if I'm letting something as silly as Sakura distract me.' I note to myself angrily, glaring at her for being so distracting.

- Sakura's POV again

I heard the door swoosh as it was pushed open by none other than Naruto himself. But this time Sasuke looked much calmer. Definitely not murderous like last time. But I could tell by the look in his eyes that he still yearned to fight, a lot.

"Ugh, fine but if it becomes deadly in the least, I am going to interrupt the both of you." I sighed reluctantly.

"Hmph." Sasuke smirked. "Naruto, fight me, now." His smirk morphed into a serious stare.

"What are you talking-" Naruto began.

"Shut up and fight me." Sasuke interrupted.

"I was thinking about that, too." Naruto smirked triumphantly. I inwardly sighed.

'Boys.'

-

LOL-ly LOL, I updated once again! Hooray! Man I skip around, then again I don't actually remember what happened in what order, but oh well. I'm reading the manga along side to know what is happening canon-ly. I hope you are enjoying this as much as I'm enjoying writing it. But is it sad if I have to go back to read my own chapters since I can't remember half of it? LOL, its just me. Anyways, thank you so much and if you like please stay tuned for the next chapter! LOL, this was kind of short, ne? And I'm rushing. Sorry.

-ANBU Inu


	16. The Truth

I sighed as I followed the two from Sasuke's room to the roof top, I knew this was rather necessary for both of their growth, but at the same time, this was the very thing that managed to push Sasuke off the edge. They both had their little preliminary talk, as I sat there watching with an icy stare. Should I catch them, and do the same thing as Kakashi? Or should I run in between and maybe accidentally caught in the crossfire?

"…Sasuke-chan!" Naruto yelled as I zoned back in. I chuckled as they yelled each other's names. Funny that was exactly I wanted to add to both of their names right now. And pinch their cheeks. They have always seemed quite immature. And as they fought, Naruto of course did his normal technique, and Sasuke did pretty well holding the hundreds of Narutos off, but it wasn't enough as Naruto did his Uzumaki Naruto Rendan. Then Sasuke burnt all the clones, then Naruto did his Rasengan and Sasuke did his Chidori. And they were going at each other, I rolled my eyes as I ran to them and poked them both hard on the pressure point on their arm, their chakra instantly sputtered out, and they were left looking confused as I directed both of them to the ground.

"Sasuke…kun, are you satisfied with your fight now?" I asked, glaring at the boy. He averted his gaze. "How about you Naruto?" He looked away as well. I could feel Kakashi watching in the background. "Just think, if I hadn't stepped in you probably would have clashed and blown off the roof. Naruto, would you seriously want to pay that off?!" I turned to him once again.

"…No…" he replied sullenly.

"And Sasuke, this is not how a shinobi is supposed to act, right now you are acting just like Naruto, and we both know that's not a good thing."

"HEY!!!" Naruto yelled. I gave him a teasing smirk, and he quieted down. Sasuke remained quiet, reflective, staring at his hand and opening it and closing it.

"…Sakura…" he noted.

"What is it Sasuke?" I had finally given up that stupid suffix, I figured it wasn't needed to 'blend in' anymore since I already stuck out.

"…You just used a Hyuuga move…" he gave me a speculative gaze. My eyes widened. This wasn't good. Hinata had taught me the basics of the Hyuuga form of martial arts back in my time period, and with my chakra control plus my good memory I figured out how they closed chakra points and memorized where each was.

"…You must be mistaking that move for something else." He looked up at me, flashing his Sharingan.

'Stupid Sharingan being so stupidly perceptive.' I cursed to myself.

**Isn't that right!!!** IS joined in.

'Haven't seen you for a while.' I noted to her.

**I had a tea party with the Kyuubi.** She noted. I mentally stared at her with wide eyes. **Don't forget, he's still there.**

'Damn.' I noted to myself, bringing my attention back to the boy before me.

"Ugh, I learned it from Hinata, okay?" I sighed, giving the boy an apathetic stare. This was true, and I had trained with her a little bit in Naruto's absence as well. I hoped the boy would take this as an answer. And I guess he somewhat did as he offered a skeptic glare and a 'Hn'. Fortunately, Kakashi found this an opportune time to show up.

"That is a rather surprising move, Sakura." Kakashi gave me his own speculative look. "But you are a chuunin, right?"

"Yes…" I noted, giving him a strange look.

"Sakura, please attend to Sasuke." He noted.

"Okay…" I placed my hand on Sasuke's head. My hand glowed with green chakra, "You really shouldn't be straining yourself like that, you're still recovering, so you aren't at your best." There it was again, Sasuke's forehead getting strangely warmer. I looked over his face and did his cheeks look a tinge… Pinker?

'Sakura, you're just reading too far into the situation.' I sighed mentally.

**I wouldn't say as much, that's the exact same behavior that all of your male patients had.** Is replied.

'Ugh, don't remind me. You know how many I punched the lights out of when I was checking up on the—' I swiftly dodged to the left, I watched as a kunai flew past, I heard a thunk as it was planted into the wall.

"What the—" I did a back hand spring out of my crouched position as two more flew at me. I now could see my assailant. "Kakashi-sensei, what are you do—" I jumped out of the way once again. Then he stopped.

"Sakura, that's not the level a normal Chuunin's reflexes are at." He noted.

"Of course they are, I am a chuu—" I sunk into a crouch, then cartwheeled to the side as two more kunai flew past. "Okay now this is getting annoying."

"Sakura, I don't think you are who you say you are."

"What, do, you, mean?" I asked as I continued avoiding kunais. Naruto and Sasuke watched the exchange with wide eyes.

"…In the note the Hokage left behind he mentioned that you were not from this time period." My eyes widened in alarm. "He also mentioned that we should all adjourn to a sound-proof room such as the Hokage's office in order for you to tell us the truth." I noticed a chakra flicker behind me. The sound nins that took Sasuke away the first time around.

"Fine, I need to tell the new Tsunade-taichou anyways, But Sasuke, stick close to me."

"What are you—" I unceremoniously grabbed the boy and threw him over my shoulder. "Sakura! What are you doing?!"

"Just shut up, this will be faster." I noted, as I motioned to the other two and we hurried off to the Hokage tower. When we arrived, fortunately enough, no one else was there. I placed Sasuke down right before we entered, she was 'doing paperwork' as always.

"Tsunade-sama." Kakashi spoke.

"Well, then I guess we get to learn." Tsunade whispered. She motioned to Shizune and she proceeded to lock all the doors and windows. Sakura sighed.

"This will take a while guys, so I suggest you sit down." I noted as I stood up and paced, trying to decide how to present this. I figured I might as well lay it out from the point where I was sent back on.

"My name _is_ Sakura Haruno. My real age is 20, in my original time period, I was a jounin medic nin, my teammates were Naruto Uzumaki and Sai, with Kakashi as my sensei, we were also joined by an ANBU named Yamato who temporarily subbed for Kakashi as the team leader. Naturally since I came back in time, I know 'the future', so I might as well start from today.

((Authors Note: This is just the whole story line, but I'm writing it down so I can list reactions as well.))

"In the original time line, Sasuke and Naruto fought today, almost killing me in the process, but were redirected by Kakashi. Sasuke, I assume feeling frustrated by Naruto's progress and strength left Konoha tonight with me trying to stop him, but how could I? I was a weakling with no particular strengths, he left with Sound Nins to join Orochimaru to grow stronger, and was intercepted by a team from the Konoha Nine, with Shikamaru as the squad leader. Everyone ended up in critical condition and Sasuke got away. Soon after that Naruto left with Jiraiya to train for 3 years while I trained with Tsunade-sama.

"Time passed and Naruto returned, and the Akatsuki began to make their move. The Akatsuki is composed of many missing nins, including Itachi, their names are Deidara, Sasori, Pein, Konan, Kisame, Itachi, Hidan, Kakuzu, and Zetsu. They plotted to take over the world by getting all the tailed beasts and extracting them from their containers, including Naruto. Kankuro was attacked by Sasori and Kakashi, me, and Naruto were sent to help. I used the medic skills learned from Tsunade to extract the poison, and we went to rescue Gaara, killing Sasori on the way. He died but a comrade named Chiyo performed a jutsu to give her life to him…"

-

"…Due to the fact that I was thrown back through Sasuke's memories I learned a lot. Sasuke did succeed in killing Itachi, and was rescued by Tobi, or Madara Uchiha. He explained to Sasuke the real reason Itachi killed his clan." She turned to Sasuke. "I know this will be hard to take in, Sasuke, but it's the truth. Itachi Uchiha killed the Uchiha clan on orders of the Konoha High Council, they were plotting a rebellion, and Itachi was ordered, and he was assisted by Madara. But Itachi could not kill his little brother. So—"

"This is bullshit." Sasuke cried, jumping to his feet. "I can't sit through this anymore—" I threw a kunai towards him, aiming right in front of his face.

"You seemed to believe it well enough that time, now sit down so I can continue." I noted with a venomous smile. He complied quickly. "As I was saying, he left Konoha and played the part of the villain, to never return. Not too long after that Pein attacked Konoha, utterly wiping it out, but then through some strange magic Naruto seems to hold, he was convinced of Naruto's ideas and restored life to all the villagers he had killed. Naruto was a hero, acknowledged by all in Konoha. Time passed in relative peace as we continued to look for Sasuke, both me and Naruto had become jounins, and even ANBU, me for a short period of time, since I was mainly required elsewhere. Also, Naruto married Hinata Hyuuga at the ripe, young age of 19. Then, not too long after I turned twenty, Sasuke attacked the rebuilt Konoha. Killed thousands, I went to attack Sasuke, feeling insanely pissed at the boy. But my efforts were in vain as I needed to heal the wounded. Then as I was healing, he threw a kunai at me, and claimed to have a new revenge, then I was trapped in Tsukiyomi, but due to the fact I have multiple minds in my head, I used my alternative to break me out of the Tsukiyomi. The world there began to crumble and Sasuke left, but I was stuck in there. Then I was catapulted back to this time period into my younger body with the same memories."

"That's absolutely crazy!" Naruto yelled. "You must be joking, how coul—"

"Naruto, it's the truth." I noted solemnly, he looked at me with a dumb-struck expression. "Now, for what's happened from then until this point. At first I followed the same procession to a T. Feeling like I was stuck in a dream. Then during our first A-rank mission I realized that it wasn't. But things still continued about the same. The main difference is that I also received a curse mark from Orochimaru, I participated in the final round of the Chuunin exam, and obviously enough, Sasuke hasn't left. And now things have come full circle."

"…Well isn't this troubling…" Tsunade noted to herself. "Because sending out Sasuke to Orochimaru will obviously ultimately kill the man, and that would benefit all. But… How could I…" She began to mumble to herself. Then she noticed us once again. "You are all dismissed." We all filed out submissively. We all parted ways, except I stuck close to Sasuke, knowing that chances are, he was about to break down. I trailed behind him as he made his way to the Uchiha complex. A place I knew he hadn't visited for a while. He didn't dismiss me, he didn't even realize I was following him as he traveled with a blank expression through his childhood home. I knew his emotions were probably extremely screwed right now as his mind tried to make sense of the recent revelation. I watched as he entered into the room where he had first found his parents, dead. The chalk lines and blood still remained. He fell to his knees. He shook his head in disbelief.

"This is unreal." He noted to himself. His face showed all, making him seem strangely, child-like. Then I watched as he absolutely broke down. His entire meaning of existing crumbling to bits. He began to sob, and I followed my motherly instincts. I approached him slowly and took him into my arms. He began to sob into my chest as I stroked his head and spoke to him in soft, comforting tones. Time passed in that state 'til the sky began to darken, it was then that he regained his senses. He realized the position we were in and quickly straightened himself.

"Sasuke, if I hear anything out of you like 'I'm going to destroy Konoha', I'm going to beat the living daylights out of you." I noted, giving him a serious glare. He returned my gaze, somehow appearing defenseless and all-knowing at the same time.

"But they-" He began.

"Sasuke, revenge has never brought any good."

"How would you kno—"

"Sasuke, if I were to retrieve revenge for everyone I've ever loved who died, at this moment you would be dead."

"…Ah…" he noted simply.

"I'm glad you know." I smiled at the boy. He bore holes into my face with eyes. "What's wrong Sas—"

"Thank you." Sasuke interrupted.

"Oh no problem, I mean… MMpf!" I was interrupted once again, but in a much different way as Sasuke's lips crushed into mine. His arms were wrapped around my waist, clinging to me. My heart began to thump frantically as my mind attempted to sort out what was happening. But before said thing could happen, Sasuke pulled away and looked out the window. I saw them too now, the sound four sitting there staring us.

"This is definitely not something Orochimaru must have expected." Sakon spoke.

"Oh great, fucking love-birds." Tayuya noted.

"Fortunately they're the two we want."

"Sasuke," I noted with a hushed voice, going into battle mode. "Stay back."

"Wait, but I-"

"Listen to me, stay." I noted with a glare. I regarded the before me icily. "Nice to see you again, Kidoumaru, Jiroubou, Sakon, and Tayuya."

"This little fucking bitch even knows all our names!" Tayuya yelled gesturing in my direction.

"I could tell you your specialties as well." I noted with a smirk, slipping into an defensive stance.

"Whatever, bitch. Orochimaru-sama wants both you and the boy." Tayuya yelled. "Who knows why he would want the weak-ass kid sitting there whimpering behind you." I could tell they were trying to provoke both me and Sasuke, but as I stuck my arm out before Sasuke as he tried to charge them, it was easy to keep my cool. It was only then I noticed a bird circling high above, on its leg was a letter. I whistled a certain note and it flew down to perch on my arm. They watched me with a glare. I pulled off the letter, and noticed it was from Tsunade. I quickly opened it and scanned its contents, my eyes opening just a tad wider with surprise. It told me that both Sasuke and I needed to go off to Orochimaru's, it was a unanimous decision by the council, but only if I tagged along to. They had already informed my parents, but I still needed to gather my stuff, Sasuke as well. I sighed to myself, then rolled my eyes, wouldn't this be fun.

"Who the hell are you to be telling me what to do?" I asked, beginning my ploy.

"Well, obviously someone a lot stronger than you." She began to run at me, but then was held back by Sakon.

"I'll take care of this." Sakon stepped forward. "Come on, I'll make your bones sound nice, Do… Re… Mi… Fa… So… La… Ti… Do…"

"Bring it, I'm not afraid of you." I smirked.

"Sakura, what are you doing?!" Sasuke asked in a hushed tone.

"Tsunade-sama has ordered us to leave for Orochimaru's." I replied in an equally hushed tone.

"Us?" he asked questioningly. I grabbed Sakon's foot as it headed for my face.

"Yes, us." I pushed his foot away from me, examining my surroundings, I knew Sasuke would not thank me if I ruined anything in his house. And besides, I had to pretend to be weak. So I began to attack him, allowing him to catch my punches.

"Let me hear the music… Do… Re…" my bones rattled within me. "Your bones are pretty high-pitched, huh? Let's go even lower…" I dodged as Kidoumaru came at me. I allowed his spidery webs to catch me. Then I was head butted in the side as Sakon came at Sasuke. I watched as Sasuke performed his Shishi Rendan on Sakon as I kept Jiroubou at bay. But soon I gave in and allowed Jiroubou to grab me by the ankle. Sasuke was also hanging from Sakon's grasp. "Hah, why does Orochimaru want some weak ass kids like these, Kimimaro had more potential than this one." I tuned the man out as he gave some sort of stupid speech about why not to stay.

"Come with us," Tayuya spoke, "And Orochimaru-sama will give you strength." They threw us against the wall and Sakon began another speech about indecisive people. And other things, he finished with a "Do not forget your purpose." And they finally took off. I rushed over to Sasuke.

"Are you okay?!" I asked, my hands instantly glowing green as I began to heal him, he pushed my hands away.

"Save it," he noted, "We have a mission to complete."

"Yep, will you be okay as I go pack?" I asked, giving the boy a concerned look.

"Of course, I'll meet you in the park."

"Okay." We separated and headed to our homes when something I had forgetten in the heat of the moment came back to me. I sunk to my knees and held a hand to my mouth. Sasuke, Sasuke _Uchiha_, Sasuke Uchiha _kissed_ me. My cheeks flushed. Stupid twelve-year-old body, getting so caught up in hormones. We'd only be stuck together for the next… Who knows how long. I then stood up and began to speed walk home.

**You just are still in love with him, after all this time.** IS gloated.

'No way, he's like a child to me.'

**Psh. As if **_**I'd**_** believe that, I'm you remember.** IS smirked.

'As if, I have to get ready.' I noted icily, as I entered my home. I hurried upstairs and quickly packed then headed down the stairs.

- Sasuke

I walked dazedly, the nights events were way too much. I mean, first I found out that my entire reason for existence was meaningless, then I absolutely broke down, and, worst of all, I got swept off with emotion and kissed Sakura. I kissed _Sakura Haruno_. I leaned against the wall in my apartment and slid down it running a hand through my hair. I didn't know what got me to do it, but all I know is that as I did it, she was what was holding me down. Keeping me attached to this world when I was almost swept away. But I couldn't let that take over, we would be on a serious mission together, and that was only because my emotions were in such turmoil… Right?

- Sakura again

"Sakura!" my mother's arms encircled me. "My baby, you be safe!"

"I will mom, no worries, I'll probably even be able to find a way to send letters, but if they're attached to slugs, please understand."

"I will baby, I will." She kissed me on the cheek, tears beginning to roll down her cheeks.

"Now Sakura, be safe." My father noted, tears piercing at the corner of his eyes as well.

"No worries dad, I'm not the weak little girl you used to know." I smiled as I hugged him.

"I know, Sakura, I know." He smiled.

"I have to get going, I'll contact as much as possible." I said as I came out the door. I heard my mother's gossip as I headed out the door.

"Who would've guessed she'd become a Chuunin and get a 3+ year mission this fast?" she muttered in a hushed voice.

"I always knew she was destined for great things…" I heard my father reply as the door closed. I smiled as I continued on. I knew everything would turn out well in the end.

-

Oh no! I'm going to be attacked! So much SasuSaku in one chapter. –Dodges random knives and axes thrown at her- I'm sorry! I promise that in the next chapter there will be another encounter with the older Uchiha. But am I getting better? Its definitely gotten more serious, but then again, I'm not exactly the funniest person, unless I'm either very hyper or very perverted. (LOL) And I wasn't either in this chapter, in fact my voice died, and I sound like a donkey. Heheh. Anyways, I hoped you liked it. These next chapters will be hard to write, but I'll keep pumping them out. You should be happy I updated so soon, Lol. Anyways, I hoped you liked it, and hope you join for the next chapter. Thank you for reading! See you!

-ANBU Inu


	17. The Journey There

I guess this is the one thing I did not anticipate. Getting stuck inside a stupid barrel for hours at a time. I mean seriously, it's a good thing I'm not claustrophic, because this would be pretty fail. I mean, apparently this will turn me into a full-fledged Orochimaru minion or something. I was in all sorts of pain because of that as IS fought off the 'dying' effects, I mean seriously, the pills they gave us were hallucinogens, and I can stand those pretty well. But apparently they're also pretty strong because at the moment it feels like hot coals are covering my body. Apparently it'll make my go into the second stage of the curse mark, but did they seal me up half as well as they did Sasuke? Of course not. Orochimaru wanted the 'last' Uchiha, not the random Haruno. After a while of sitting in the stupid barrel I heard all sorts of noises, I think it was probably some sort of Combat, I couldn't tell from this stupid barrel with a hallucinogen trying to kill m-

-O-

When I came to again, I was in a cloud of smoke, and I felt strange, like a whole new entity had taken over me, then it faded away. I then heard another large sound and there was Sasuke in the second stage of his curse mark, then it faded away and it hit me, I had achieved the second stage too. My curse mark burned, as though to affirm that fact. Naruto was yelling at us, I guess because he wouldn't have chased after us if he had known we were doing this as a mission. And since this is a try to get rid of people party anyways, why not take care of the Sound Four? Wouldn't that be fun to take care of when he returns. Both Sasuke and I took off into the forest, Lee showed up and Naruto took off after us as well. He caught up about when we reached the valley of the end.

"Why are you doing this!?" Naruto yelled after us. "Sakura, I thought you were going to stop him, not go wi-" I flash-stepped next to the poor, bewildered boy.

"Naruto, I'm sorry." I whispered into his ear. He blushed bright red. I pecked him on the cheek. "We'll be back, so just wait for us, we have something we have to do." If it's possible he turned even redder. "While I'm gone, try courting Hinata, she's loved you for the longest time, and you will fall for her too, no worries. See-yah."

"But I-" I hit him swiftly on the back of the neck, causing him to faint. I returned to Sasuke. "Off to Orochimaru's?"

"Follow the yellow brick road." Sasuke smirked at me. He began to take off.

'Did Sasuke just make a joke?' I asked myself, amazed at the thought.

**That is definitely the strangest thing I have ever seen.**

'Well, we still have to go, so off!' I quickly followed Sasuke.

-

We had traveled quite a ways when we stopped for camp. Sasuke claimed we could keep going but I decided against it, besides I had someone I needed to find. I told Sasuke I was off to find food as he made camp but that was nothing close to what I actually intended to do. I had gone off quite a ways before I finally called out the name of the one I was looking for.

"Itachi, I know you're somewhere around here, and I have something I want to tell you." I noted as I took a seat on a branch as the light began to fade around me, I groaned as rain began to drip on my head but still stared out into the trees.

"What is it?" I accidentally jumped and fell of the branch I was sitting on. He grabbed me by the shirt before I fell too far and pulled me up.

"Well…" I brushed myself off and tried to steady myself. Did the man enjoy scaring the living daylights out of me? I looked up to his face, deciding to be blunt about it. "Sasuke knows why you killed your clan."

"What?!" the Uchiha stared at me with wide eyes.

"I told him."

"How the hell do you know about that?!" Itachi was acting out of character, it took him a second to put his iron face back on.

I sighed, "Well, to make it short, I was sent back in time by a Tsukiyomi technique casted by Sasuke. And it sent me through his memories…" The Uchiha looked oddly dumbstruck. "Madara told Sasuke shortly after your death."

"…"

"But we have been sent off to Orochimaru's after the guise of trying to gain power, but we're just going to eventually kill him." I smiled.

"…You are a complete idiot."

"What?!" I yelled, throwing a punch at the Uchiha, he easily caught it, as if to remind me who I was speaking to. I dropped my hand down, attempting to cool my temper. Didn't work. "Why the hell am I an idiot?" I asked glaring at the older man.

**Who is absolutely h-o-t, hot! Hotter than Sasuke even.** Inner Sakura mused.

'Shut up, trying to have a serious conversation here.' I noted, but my cheeks were getting a tinge redder, not that he could probably notice in the dimming light.

"If you told him that then you are an idiot." Itachi announced once again.

"Well it kept him from going off to Orochimaru on the basis of revenge." I noted, seething on the inside.

"Well, half the point is to get him strong enough to fend off Madara's enticements."

"Well apparently that didn't work seeing as in my original time period you were dead, and Sasuke was trying to destroy Konoha." then it hit me, Itachi didn't sound anything close to what I had heard about him. "Aren't you acting rather strangely?"

"You're the one who just implied you were from the future." Itachi noted icily.

"I did wha-" I stopped midsentence. "…Oops…"

"Yes." He noted with a signature Uchiha almost-smirk.

"But you're just trying to distract me from my question." I noted glaring at him.

"Not necessarily, I think I deserve to know why a time-traveler is around my brother." He replied with an Uchiha-level glare.

'Stupid Uchiha's and their high level expressions.'

**Haha, that's the most random thing I've heard you say all day!**

'Where've you been?'

**You know, trying to recover after being put under hallucinogens.**

'Yup…'

"…runo-san."

"What?" I asked snapping up.

"You zoned off." He noted.

"I know, but you still should answer my question." I noted narrowing my eyes.

"…I can't say… Why… I just don't know." He shrugged.

"You don't know."

He had a thoughtful face on for a while, then it almost appeared he came to a conclusion. "No wonder you were able to get my brother's mind off revenge." He looked down at me. "It's hard to be intimidating with pink hair."

"What?! I think I'm quite intimidating!" I yelled at him, attempting to hit him, but each throw being blocked. Soon I was tired so I took a seat. "So it's _my_ fault?" I asked, truly curious.

"…Not really…"he noted.

"Well, I better go back, your brother is expecting me to have firewood." I noted, suddenly feeling awkward.

"…" Itachi was quiet.

"Bye." I took off as fast as I could, grabbing twigs along the way. When I returned to camp I was winded, and Sasuke looked at me strangely.

"What'd you do? Fall in a hole?" Sasuke asked, already having a fire going.

"Something like that…" I noted as I put an armful of twigs down. "I'm bushed, where am I sleeping?" Sasuke put out the fire quickly.

"We might as well finish the journey. I'm pretty sure we're almost there." Sasuke noted.

"…Alright." I noted as we both journeyed on.

-

Wow, I'm sorry Itachi was so OOC, I don't really know how to right Itachi, I've never seriously tried before. Please give me suggestions on him so I can go back and rewrite him if needs be. And the next one will be coming up soon, and it's even longer than this one already. ^-^'


	18. Vague Intentions to Kill

We arrived at the base, well not necessarily. A sound nin came out to meet us, then he led us to the base where Kabuto took over the escort job. Must I reiterate how much I hate Kabuto. I mean… ew. And all things considered he's my rival in medical skills, so I guess I might as well learn something from him while I'm here but… ew. Soon we arrived at the hole in the wall with a door over it that appeared to be Orochimaru's room. We entered the room and Kabuto announced us. Orochimaru turned to look at us.

"So you've finally arrived…" he breathed surveying the two of us, but mostly Sasuke. "Sasuke, I knew you'd come."

'Stupid perv.' I noted mentally.

**No Sakura, he just wants Sasuke's body.** IS noted sarcastically.

"…And I see you came, too." He noted turning his eyes to my face. "I guess that with my experience I can make you strong as well." I nodded, knowing that I couldn't take the snake man at this point. Despite my previous thoughts otherwise. "Training will start tomorrow at dawn, you will be woken up and given breakfast beforehand. Kabuto, take them to their rooms." He waved us off. Kabuto bowed to Orochimaru, then eyed us as to say to do the same. I mentally rolled my eyes, but due to the fact that I value my life, I did a quick, jerky bow. Sasuke simply inclined his head, and then we were off. I watched as we moved through the base dully, watching as doors went by. You could tell Orochimaru favored the whole 'Evil Lair'-type feel. I mean seriously, underground tunnels lit up with torches? Why? And let me say how glad I am to have IS at this point, since my mind was wandering off as she memorized where we were going, and how to get back.

"Sasuke-san, this is your room." Kabuto noted, gesturing to the door before the two of us. He opened the door, and I got to glance in, it was pretty nice, there was a bed, a desk, and a small dresser. "There are clothes in the dresser which Orochimaru-sama would prefer that you wear, and the bathroom is to your left." Sasuke walked in and took a look around, then he turned, acknowledged us, and closed the door.

"Haruno-san, follow me." I of course obliged, following him a couple yards before we stopped. "This will be your room, and Orochimaru-sama has asked that I specifically train you. He's heard reports that you are somewhat trained as a medic nin. Our training will start at 7:30, breakfast will be served at 7:00 sharp, so be dressed by then. There are scrubs in your dresser and the bathroom is to your right. Goodnight." He took off hurriedly, and I turned to admire my room. It was almost as good as Sasuke's, but as I put my pack down and traveled towards the bathroom I noticed something. Chance's were that we were sharing a bathroom, and this was almost confirmed when I heard shower noises coming from the door. I groaned and traveled to my bed. I plunked down in it face first. This was not my day…

-

When I woke up it was probably about 6:30, I couldn't necessarily tell, but that was my best guess. Either way I got ready quickly, Sasuke had already left, and put on my scrubs. As I was putting on my sandals I heard a knock at the door. I walked over and got it, there was a scared looking girl there.

"Breakfast…" she noted timidly.

"Oh, please, bring it in." I noted with a smile. This seemed to scare her even more, but she followed orders. She set it down on the table. "Good-bye Haruno-san."

"See-yah." I noted after her. She perked a little bit, but went on her way.

I eyed the food suspiciously, it was a bowl of soup and a roll. Odd choice for breakfast. I grabbed a spoon and dipped it in, it was hot so I blew on it a bit, then an odd scent caught my nose. I smelled the soup, there was a slightly sulfuric scent to it.

'Oh great, so now they're trying to kill me off.' I noted to myself. 'How stupid do they think I am?'

**Apparently pretty stupid.** IS noted.

'Or, this could be step one of Kabuto's training.'

**Well, we'll find out if he's surprised that we're alive.**

'Yup.' I grabbed the soup and proceeded to take it to the toilet and dump it. I inspected the rolls, ripping them apart, and in time deemed them edible. I was eating them as Kabuto walked in. He inspected me, then nodded his head.

"I guess you might be worth some time." He noted dully.

"Oh thank you for the glowing compliment." I noted in reply. Then, I realized what I had just said to a mass murderer. Aren't I amazingly smart? Fortunately he chose to ignore me and from that point I followed him quietly.

He took me to a dark room, and there I saw a dead body lying. It was horribly mangled and almost caused me to catch my breath. But there was a certain villain standing before me.

"I want you to perform an autopsy on this body and figure out whether he died before or after these wounds." He noted dully. "I assume you know how to do at least a proper autopsy."

"I do." I replied sharply, I pulled my hair up in a ponytail, the slid on some surgical gloves and walked over. While I never enjoyed seeing someone dead, I had definitely performed enough autopsies of shinobi to do this quickly. I walked right over to the body and began to take samples, Kabuto stood behind and watched. It was a skin-tingling feeling to have him watching, and it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. It was quite the process, but in the end I discovered that he was strangled to death before mutilation. And when I announced this to Kabuto he didn't say anything, simply observed me. Then, he finally spoke up.

"You can be of use after all." He noted with a sneer. "But I believe that you should go wash up and change into your training uniform, Orochimaru-sama would like to train both you and the Uchiha."

I nodded and took off, feeling his eyes bore a hole into my back. Maybe I should've mentioned the other things I noticed, like who had made the weapon (most likely a sword, though a knife could've also been used) due to the chemistry of the iron left in his body. But hey, the less they know, the better right?

I was surprised when I made it back to my room, I had almost gotten lost twice, but IS sent me the right way. I took a quick shower to wash off the blood that had gotten on me, didn't bother drying my hair, and got dressed. Fortunately standing outside my door was a servant who lead me to the training room. There was Orochimaru and Sasuke. They both looked up at me, Sasuke was breathing hard and I watched as a snake disappeared.

"Took you long enough…" Orochimaru noted.

"I apologize." I answered, knowing that the best way to make it out of here alive was to be a little respectful.

"Now, I'd like to see what you can do…" Orochimaru glanced behind me. I felt the chakra presences enter the room. Both were obviously genin, highly skilled genin in fact, but still genin. "Go."

They both came at me from either side; I ducked down low and rolled out of the way. They then proceeded to use variously forms of weapons to try and hit me as I was finishing my roll. So I jumped up and out of the way, propelling myself using chakra. While in the air I swiveled and threw two senbon, they both avoided them, then I put to use my chakra control even more as I hit the ground. They both leapt to the walls and hung there. One fired a sound-based attack at me. I narrowly avoided it, and it left my ears ringing. To the point that I didn't notice the one that was approaching me from behind until the last second. He threw several kunai at me and I narrowly avoided them, all of them nicking my skin, leaving shallow cuts. He then screamed, his voice being amplified by something. I quickly covered my ears as I moved as far away from him as possible. As he stopped to take a breath I quickly reached into my kunai holder and pulled out some ear-plugs, slipping them into my ears. I knew this would somewhat hinder my senses, but it was necessary. I used my super-strength to jump onto the ceiling. That both were running in adjacent directions towards me. As they neared each other I made one jump, broke the leg of one with a punch, and broke the arm of the other with a kick as I neared the ground. But they both kept kicking, so as I was recovering and jumping back to my feet I proceeded to make a hand sign to use genjutsu on them, effectively paralyzing both of them temporarily as they thought they were stuck in a dark, endless hall. And, of course, my medical senses went crazy as I resisted healing them.

"I guess you aren't totally useless…" Orochimaru noted.

"Thank you."

"Well, now deactivate the genjutsu on them." Orochimaru noted before he turned back to Sasuke.

"Alright." I walked over and did just that. Then proceeded to heal them, fortunately Orochimaru was lecturing to Sasuke so he didn't notice my 'soft-hearted' move, and when I was done they ran away as fast as possible. I then healed my own wounds.

I listened as Orochimaru was explaining the summoning of his snakes. Waiting for him to dismiss me, but he didn't, and I stood there forever. It was horrible, but at last he turned to me.

"You may go."

…

That was it?!

Oh my… UGH! I wanted to strangle the snake man, but I knew that if I even tried, chances were that someone would like kill me right then, or maybe he'd kill me using the curse seal, I wasn't sure. So of course, I could only bow, smile, and walk away. Through the labyrinth that Orochimaru calls home. Which, I succeeded in getting lost in.

"AGH!" I yelled down the dark hallway I was in. I groaned as I made one handsign, then snapped my fingers. It was a little trick I'd learn to make a small fire that would hover over your hands and work as a light. But then, I noticed a chakra signature coming closer to me, so I put out the light. Before me crossed a guard.

"You're that girl who came with the Uchiha kid, aren't you?" he asked with a sneer.

"I have a name." I glared at the man before me.

"Like I care, but if you're lost I have to escort you back."

"Well, I am lost, so if you could please be so kind." I smiled a sickly sweet smile at the man. He stared at me for a second, then simply walked off in a direction. I assumed that he knew where he was going, and in what seemed like an eternity, we finally arrived at my room. He didn't even bother saying good-bye, so I didn't either. I sighed and then entered my room. It was dark, I noted with another sigh. Why not invest in electric lights? I was now intensely bored, with nothing to do. And I wasn't tired in the least. I mean I barely did anything. It was while I was considering going exploring (and most likely getting lost again) that a knock was on my door. I opened it to see the same little servant girl standing there.

"D-dinner." She noted with a tremble.

"Thank you."I took it from her.

"G-good night." She noted with a little curtsy.

"Good night." I replied with a smile. She glanced at my face, then took off at a run. I sighed as I closed the door and moved to the table. I inspected the food thoroughly, then began to eat it slowly. It was nice to have warm soup running down my throat. It wasn't exactly much better than the tasteless rolls, but it was nice. When I finished I decided to change into a tank top and some of my pajama pants. I yawned and stretched as I laid down on my bed. But I couldn't fall asleep, I still wasn't tired. I groaned as I turned onto my stomach. If this was how my schedule was going to be every day, I might die of boredom before the missions over.

**It's probably your fault, you did the autopsy too quickly.** IS noted.

'He probably didn't think I'd be able to do it in the first place.' I noted with a sigh.

**Well then, you showed him!**

'Aren't you optimistic.'

**Of course I am! It's in the job description.**

'I'm sure.'

**Come on, you know that there were many people who wanted to be your Inner.**

'Psha, like that could be. You're me, are there multiple mes?'

_You got that right!_

'…'

…

"Hahahahahah!" my lungs exploded with laughter. I couldn't stop. Maybe a normal person would be freaked about have a third voice in her head, but then again your average Jill would be freaked out about have one voice in her head.

"What's wrong?!" Sasuke burst through the bathroom door, dressed in only pants with hair dripping wet.

"No-nothing i-is w-wr-wrong Sa-sasuke!" I noted between bursts of laughter. He quickly calmed down, but I had to concentrate on his face to resist staring at his abdomen. I mean, watching as the water trickled down, down, down past his abs, down to ther, -cough- was something I simply couldn't allow myself to do.

"Well then…" he turned to leave.

"So how was training?" I asked before he actually began to move.

"Interesting… I signed the snake contract." He noted, hiding his slightly bleeding thumb behind him.

'Darn it, didn't even notice he was bleeding.' I chided myself.

**Because you were too entertained by the thought of what he has down there.** IS noted with a smirk.

'Shut up, I was not.'

"Sasuke, come here and let me heal that." He hesitated, watching me warily. "Don't make me come to you, having to sit around for an hour watching you didn't put me in the best mood." I glared at him. He remained silent but walked forward and held out his thumb. My hand glowed with green chakra as I put it to his wound. "There! All better." I noted with a satisfied grin.

"Thanks." He mumbled as he hurried back into the bathroom. I sighed as I watched the door he just went through, thinking about the chances that if I laughed loud again if he would comeback, but in the end I decided against it, because I don't know if even the company would make it worth how mortified I'd feel in the end. I sighed in defeat.

'Maybe they have a library in this base.'

**Perhaps, but I don't assume it has anything you'd want to read.**

'I don't know, maybe it has some sort of medical scrolls section.'

**Hah, fat chance of that, and besides, I'm sure there aren't sections, probably just piles.**

'…And just think, I'm going to be doing this for three years.'

**I hope you don't go insane!**

'….….…Thanks for the encouragement.'

**No problem.**

-

Hah! Already another chapter out. Even though I kind forgot I wrote it ^-^'. Now I have to find out a way for her to meet Itachi again! This will be interesting… Ja ne pplz!


	19. Of course

Well, I've been here for a month and so far Kabuto has tried to: kill me, knock me out, paralyze me, put me to sleep, make me see things, slow down my bodily processes, make me lose control, get me high, make me have convulsions… And that's the general list. Not even including the side effects that came with those effects. But fortunately, we are moving bases today! I mean honestly, I've been looking forward to this ever since Orochimaru announced it. Some sort of security breach-type thing. But I had heard that this was a regular occurrence. But, all was well because that meant I got to see sunlight! Sunlight! Something I had missed for such a long time, to the point I had considered punching a hole through my ceiling for. I smiled as I packed my small amount of belonging into the bag. And maybe I could even sneak away to send my parents and the hokage a letter. That would be nice.

**And maybe you'll see Itachi, too.** IS smirked.

'O-of course I won't see Itachi.'

**How do you know?**

'…Don't make me hole you away in a corner IS.'

**Whatever…** she wandered away from my consciousness. I was then done packing. The best part about it all, is first, only me, Orochimaru, Kabuto, and Sasuke are going first. Which meant we would get there first and get the best rooms. A definite plus.

My ears perked as I heard a knock on the bathroom door.

"Come in!" I called out and, of course, entered Sasuke.

"You ready?" he asked scanning my room.

"Yes, and just so you know, I'm going to sneak away so I can send a summon to the Hokage, so don't mention anything about my clone."

"As long as Orochimaru doesn't destroy it first." He noted sullenly.

"There's a chance of that, but it's pretty hardy."

"…Hn… Let's go."

"One sec." I quickly made a series of handsigns, and there standing to my left was perfect copy of me. I then made myself invisible.

"Come on, Sasuke," My clone smiled, "Onward."

"…Hn." He left with the two of us following. We navigated through a mass series of tunnels until finally we arrived at the exit with Orochimaru and Kabuto waiting for us. Their conversation promptly stopped as Orochimaru turned to survey us… But mostly Sasuke.

"Well then…" he said slowly. "I guesss we musst get moving now." They took at breakneck speed, my clone naturally following. I counted to just about ten then took off to the north-east. They were heading to the base located in the Sound village so I knew the way there. It was due north to our current base. I quickly summoned my two slugs and tied a letter each to them, one to go to the Hokage of course, and the other a pacifier for my parents. Then I began to follow my own chakra signature as I tried to catch up to the rest of them to take my spot back. Fortunately, as I was beginning to tire of my speed, they were beginning to slow, so I quickly caught up, leapt up and took my clone's place in a mere fraction of a second. Even Orochimaru didn't seem to notice as he continued on with his lecturing to Sasuke. I was quickly caught up as my clone's memories meshed with mine and I learned that Orochimaru was explaining the normal procedure of switching bases and why. It really was a boring speech and I tuned it out. After about an hour of running, (I was beginning to start to pant), we arrived. The people on the streets froze as they watched Orochimaru walk through. This people were, of course, ruled by fear. Even the animals seemed to notice that this was not a man to mess with. Then my eyes widened with realization as we approached the base that it was above ground. This made my heart swell with joy. Because, I actually now got to see the sun almost every day. I tuned back into Orochimaru as he explained that we would be staying there for only a week, and that most of the rest of those at the base would be staying. They were only being followed by the elites. I of course quickly zoned out until Sasuke elbowed me, since they were moving.

I followed lazily behind, not really caring, quietly resisting the urge to go shop, and get fresh clothes… That would be nice… It was only then that I noticed a chakra running towards us. I turned towards it immediately, the others around me doing the same. I noticed with horror that this person, while having chakra, was completely untrained. My eyes widened as I watched an elite appear out of seemingly nowhere, grab this person, a young teenage boy by the looks of it, by the head and throw him against the wall, I quickly averted my eyes as he threw a kunai at the boy's head. My stomach clenched as I heard the noise of blood spurting out. It took everything in me to not cry, or scream, or do something about it! I'm a Konoha ninja, and we're all for mercy and such things that do not exist here in the sound. I quickly bit my tongue and kept moving. Sasuke looked at me with a worried tinge to his expression. I gave him a quick smile back, and we both looked forward and walked straight after the others. We came to a large estate, and were lead away in groups; Sasuke and I followed Orochimaru and Kabuto while the servants lead the few elites who had caught up in different ways. They lead us deep into the left wing and underground it seems. Kabuto led us off to our rooms as Orochimaru retired to his own. And, I noted with a sigh, my room has absolutely no windows. I quickly went to the closet there and looked inside, and to my delight, there was a dress.

It was extremely fancy and such, but as I felt the fabric, I noticed that it was also extremely soft. I slipped out of my old dirty clothes, and into this dress. It was a little big with a wide sash that could be tied to make it somewhat fit, but, this meant I could finally wash my normal clothes. I quickly walked into the attached bathroom, turned on the water in the tub, and began to soak my soiled clothes. I decided that for now I'd go lay on my bed, I knew dinner would be soon, and that, chances were, that it would be with Orochimaru, and therefore it would be best to rest beforehand.

I had barely nodded off when I heard a knock on the door, I mentally groaned, but checked myself in the mirror, then got it. Sasuke was standing at the door, dressed in his normal clothes. He stared at me incredulously, but decided not to mention it, so I did.

"I found it in the closet, and my normal clothes were dirty."

"Hn…" he didn't even bother looking at me. This irked me somewhat, but I decided not to press it. We both walked down the corridors until we reached the an open area where Orochimaru was already seated. We both took seats on adjacent sides of the snake-like man and dinner was served. We ate in silence, Orochimaru simply looking from one of us to the other. The dinner was rather simple, just some steak with veggies and a glass of water.

"I see you found a dresss." He noted, the slight hiss that was always in his voice as prevalent as ever.

"Yes, I found that my training clothes were too dirty to continue wearing, so they are currently being washed." I replied politely, doing my best not to spill on the dress.

"Hmm…" he smirked at me, then looked to Sasuke. "What do you think, Sasuke?"

"She looks fine." Sasuke replied shortly, staring at his food.

"Oh, iss that all?"

"Of course."

"Hmm…" Orochimaru's face twisted into a smirk. He took one bite, then pushed his food away. "I'm off to deal with some… business… then."

"Have a good day." I smiled at his back. I watched as Kabuto filed out obediently after the snake man. I then noticed an unusual presence behind me, though not giving it off. It felt as though it a chakra system was embedded in the wall. Then, I realized. Orochimaru must have set something to monitor us. I don't know how or what, but I continued eating quietly. But, of course, Sasuke through a kunai at the chakra. It almost rushed out of the wall, pouring into the ground. And next thing I knew, I was out like a light.

-

Yeah, this is slowly getting harder to write, but I am doing my best. A couple nice reviews might spark the ol' flame. Haha, sorry it's so short through, and so random. -.-'


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